Afterdeath
by Maelstra
Summary: Xehanort decides to kill Riku to stop him from disrupting his plans. But luckily for everyone else, Vanitas has his own plans. KH3 speculation. Compliant with everything before KH3.
1. Chapter 1

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: Wow, I actually wrote a fanfic again! It's been… so many years. Crazy! But I'm super hyped for Kingdom Hearts 3 to come out, and all that energy manifested itself into a story. This "short story" ended up 60k+ words long, and it's mostly done. I'm going to try to get a chapter up at least once a week._

 _This story is canon compliant (to the best of my ability) with all the games – except KH3, of course – and is compliant with some of the elements in the KH3 trailers. This is not my attempt to guess what will happen in KH3. This is just a collection of things that I thought would be fun to see, that_ technically could _happen._

 _I've done my best to research the KH lore and make it accurate. If I missed something big, then please let me know and I'll try to fix it. But honestly, does anyone really understand everything that's going on? I tried to summarize the_ basics _to my sister and ended up with a four page document!_

 _There is a ton of speculation about the identities of the 13 Darknesses and the 7 Lights. I picked their identities based on who I felt like writing as each – that's it. So some of my choices might seem a bit surprising. But anyway, for the sake of the story, just don't think too hard about it, haha._

 _I hope you enjoy!_

Chapter 1

Riku had gone looking for trouble, and had found it in spades. In the main square of the City of the Bells, he turned around and found himself facing six black-coated members of the "new and improved" Organization Thirteen. They stood still at first, smirking at him and studying him from under their hoods. Riku summoned his Braveheart keyblade and attacked first – there was no point in drawing things out. As he lunged to attack with his keyblade, the Seekers of Darkness also wasted no time; they each spurred into action, summoning weapons or preparing magic.

Riku knew he was a skilled fighter, but his plan was to fight to escape. He'd been cornered by the Organization once before, during his pursuit of Roxas. His escape had been narrow, and he'd had the power of Ansem's darkness to draw on then. Not that he'd ever admit it to Sora, or especially Mickey, but he felt vulnerable now without his former dark power. He could still summon the darkness in minor amounts to boost his spells, but even creating dark corridors was beyond him now.

He couldn't even use his old keyblade anymore – the Way to Dawn had snapped in two during his ill-fated attempt to rescue Aqua from the Realm of Darkness. Normally, weapons of heart weren't supposed to break. But the Way to Dawn now required a greater percentage of darkness in his heart than Riku currently possessed. While that boded well for the current state of his heart, Riku feared the power of light in his heart was not yet strong enough to make up for the loss of his other power.

Riku continued his rhythm of attack and dodge, attack and dodge. He could see no faces, but tried to keep tabs on the individual black-coated seekers anyway. That one over there liked using lightning – Larxene. Attack fast, then get back out of range. That one made shapes of water – Demyx. Smash the water shapes then pummel the hooded seeker as many times as possible before dodging the attack from the next one: a shield this time.

Wait, wasn't that shield Vexen's weapon? Riku had talked to Even just a few days ago. He couldn't be here, right? And yet... Riku started to feel a clench of real fear in his heart. He couldn't waste any more time with these seekers. He needed to escape _now_ – his friends needed to know that Xehanort was actively recruiting...

Dodge roll, jump, slash, block. Riku had been fighting these sorts of battles for so long, he could literally do it in his sleep. But once he saw a gap between them, he ran. He needed a few uninterrupted seconds to open a corridor with his keyblade to escape this world.

But the six seekers were already in front of him, waiting for him.

Wait...

Riku heard a soft sound and dodged aside. A massive sword smashed into the ground where he'd just been standing. From behind.

Riku spun around and counted six black coats on one side and six on the other. This was _wrong!_ They weren't _all_ supposed to be here!

Riku was slammed forward onto his knees. He didn't even know what he'd been hit with. He gave up attacking and just tried to dodge, but there was nowhere to go. He was getting slammed and zapped everywhere he moved to. Riku tried to high jump up and over them to escape, but Saïx just matched his jump and smashed his massive sword against his back with so much force that Riku _heard_ something crack. He hit the ground and tumbled over and over from the momentum. Everything hurt. He couldn't move. It was all over and it had been a trap and _were Sora and the others okay...?_

Speaking of Sora: the creature of pure darkness with Sora's face was standing over Riku now. Vanitas grinned a horrible smile and then stabbed his keyblade into Riku's chest. Riku could barely gasp for the pain. _So this is what it feels like...!_ Then there was the sensation of something _tearing_ in his chest, and then everything went away.

x-x-x

"That wasn't the plan."

Vanitas couldn't help but flinch at that voice. That voice promised pain. He was so sick of pain. "You said I've gotten too weak. So I'm doing something about it!" He held up his keyblade, the golden orb of Riku's heart still stuck on the end of it. Vanitas raised his free left hand to the orb and summoned black magic tendrils that he wrapped around it, sealing in the light. "I'll cage this heart and drain the energy from it. Then I'll be strong again. I won't lose anymore!"

Old Xehanort pushed back his hood and gave Vanitas a kindly look that meant exactly the opposite. " _That_ is still not the plan. The boy needs to die."

"He's as good as dead already," Vanitas snarled. "Besides, why waste this opportunity–?"

"I don't need you anymore, Vanitas. You can easily be replaced." The smile was gone now. Xehanort wasn't pretending anymore.

"Yes, but _he_ can't be." Vanitas gestured to Riku's body. "You want to hurt Sora, and the other stupid guardians of light? Let them think their friend is dead. And then... _then_ make them fight an enemy with their friend's face. They're all so weak... I bet they won't be able to do it. They'll be too distracted trying to _save_ him that they won't be able to give you any more trouble at all!"

Xehanort casually leaned down and grasped Vanitas by the throat. "Are you getting _sentimental_ , Vanitas?"

Vanitas growled. "I _can't_ be, remember?" He wanted to say more – normally he would – but Xehanort might actually destroy him this time if he did. He'd shown no hesitation in disposing of that Replica he had deemed "too soft." Vanitas was on his last chance.

Xehanort smiled again and slowly let go. "I wanted a new vessel with the mind intact... but you might be right, _for once._ Sora _will_ be tormented by the fate of his friend. He will come to wish he never tried to resist me!"

Vanitas squirmed inwardly, but tried to keep a steady face.

Xehanort noticed Vanitas's discomfort, and submission, and grinned toothily. "Do as you have suggested. Make yourself stronger, and _prove to me_ you are worthy to be counted as a Seeker of Darkness."

Vanitas wasted no more time. He shoved the keyblade, with the endarkened orb still on the tip of it, into his chest. The heart went somewhat unwillingly, but Vanitas was strong enough for this at least. Occupied with this as he was, he still was aware of Xehanort cloning another copy of his heart with his keyblade and planting it into the hollow chest of Riku's body. The body stopped shimmering faintly as it regained stability by having a heart – even though the heart wasn't its own. It was almost fascinating how the bodies didn't really seem to care...

But Vanitas had more important things to do. Time-critical things. He cleared his throat, feeling awkward at the show of deference. _How he'd rather rip that old man's throat out, but..._ "I'll need some time to focus, to set up the drain on the heart. Some place where I can't be disturbed."

Xehanort nodded slightly. "Do what you need to." His focus was on his new vessel now. It would take him a little while to get it sufficiently prepared and combat ready.

Vanitas waited no longer. He extended a hand to summon a dark corridor and then sprinted into it. His time was running out. And the Day of the X-Blade was coming very soon...

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Radiant Garden is actually looking almost radiant again,_ Sora observed as he munched on another sea salt ice cream. It was his third that day. He'd been getting concerned about the seemingly constant craving for the strange sweet until Axel – er, that is, Lea – had finally confessed to the habit he and Roxas had had of eating those blue ice cream bars together almost daily. Roxas was floating close to the surface these days...

Everyone else could sense that big things would be happening soon, as well. Sora figured that was why everyone had redoubled their efforts in rebuilding Radiant Garden. The castle was even looking regal now, instead of like a haunted deathtrap ringed by backwards waterfalls. People had just finished re-terracing one of the gardens yesterday and were already planting new flowers. It was a big, final push to get things in order... before war came and tore it all apart again.

Sora pushed the thought down. He hated thinking like that. He couldn't afford to imagine what would happen if the darkness won – if Xehanort got his way. He had to stay focused, and pour all his energy into ensuring it didn't happen.

"Wow, I thought for sure I'd be the first one back!"

Sora looked down and quickly hopped off the ledge he was perching on. "Kairi! Are you okay?"

"Of course I am!" She gave him _that look_ again. "It was only, like, three heartless! I would have been back sooner but I spent a while looking around to be sure there weren't any more!"

"Were there any more?"

"No. Not that I could find anyway." She noticed the stick that Sora was too slow to hide and giggled. "More ice cream?"

"It's _Roxas_ , I told you..." It was pointless. Kairi was still laughing. Sora rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled weakly.

Kairi smiled again and let the subject drop. "So, how about you? Find anything on your world?"

"No, nothing at all. I got the raw pick." He leaned back against the wall and sighed.

Kairi frowned. " _Nothing?_ But then, why did we get a distress signal for that world?"

"It's the Land of Dragons. The first time I went there, they were in the middle of a war. They have a fully trained army that's experienced at fighting heartless. When the heartless showed up again, they were worried enough to call for help. But they managed to defeat them by themselves before I arrived." Sora shook his head. "If only I had been a little quicker, I could have at least _helped._ "

"More ice cream?" a new voice asked.

Sora dropped the stick out of guilty reflex even though it did no good.

Lea shook his head and laughed. "Man, I'm glad to see signs of Roxas still kicking inside there... but he's going to give you a stomach ache at this rate."

Sora shrugged and bent to retrieve his stick. He couldn't _litter_ part of the barely-restored Radiant Garden! That would just be... really rude! He was a real official honorary member of the Restoration Committee, after all!

Lea and Kairi swapped details of their worlds. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy showed up next at about the same time, the former arriving by keyblade portal and the latter two popping down from their gummi ship. Sora greeted his old companions, but hesitated when faced with the king's clouded face. "Your majesty... what's the matter?"

The mouse's expression didn't clear. "This was all too easy. Too easy to warrant a distress signal. Something feels really wrong about all this..."

"Your instincts are impressive."

Everyone turned and gasped at the black coated figure now standing on a higher ledge of the wall Sora had just been leaning on.

"What do you want?" Sora yelled at the same time Lea hissed, "Isa!"

"Lea." Saïx used one hand to pull back his hood, while still holding up a large, black-wrapped bundle with his other hand. "I bring a gift from our master." He dramatically allowed the black fabric wrapping to unfold, dropping a keyblade to the ground, where it clattered to Sora's feet. "A new marker for the keyblade graveyard," Saïx concluded.

There were many gasps around Sora. Lea shouted out a denial, but Sora couldn't focus on Saïx's retort. Couldn't focus. Couldn't focus on anything. Nothing except the keyblade – the magnificent Braveheart keyblade born of Riku's heart, replacing the Way to Dawn that could no longer draw on enough darkness to function properly...

 _Riku wasn't...!_

 _Riku couldn't...!_

In a split-second change, Sora summoned Oathkeeper to his hand and with a snarl leapt the full height to where Saïx stood. Saïx was almost too slow summoning his own sword to parry. Almost. Sora slashed ferociously at Saïx, aiming at his head, then feet, then side in rapid succession. Saïx blocked each blow with infuriating accuracy. "Roxas. What a surprise to see you."

"Shut up!" Sora growled in a voice not quite his own. He threw his keyblade at Saïx, and when the seeker had to duck, Sora leapt forward and tackled the taller man off the wall.

Saïx twisted midair and managed to escape landing in a pin. But as soon as his feet touched the ground, he summoned a dozen berserker nobodies, ringing about him in a defensive line. "Such anger. The master always had high hopes for you, Roxas. You can still come back to us. The master would be glad to clear a spot for you..."

Sora-Roxas's only response was to try to smash straight through the berserkers with another animalistic cry.

Saïx took this as his cue to flee. He summoned a dark portal where he stood and melted in immediately, leaving his pack of nobodies to ensure his escape. "Save your energy for the Day of the X-Blade. You're down one Light now..."

Sora-Roxas screamed at the fading wisp of the dark portal, and then singlehandedly keyblade-pummeled all the nobodies to oblivion while everyone else just stood back and watched. At last, as the final nobody vanished into milky smoke, Sora let the tip of his keyblade drop to the ground. He stood there, head hanging down, gasping from exertion.

Lea and Kairi exchanged a glance. Lea stepped forward first. "Roxas?" He reached out a hand to Sora. As soon as he brushed Sora's shoulder, Sora spun around and pointed the keyblade at Lea. His eyes were wild, furious. Lea backed up and held his hands up in a surrender pose. Sora also held his position, though the point of his keyblade wobbled. Gradually, Sora's breathing slowed. He let the keyblade slip through his fingers; it vanished before it hit the ground. "L-Lea?" The voice was all Sora's.

"Yeah, buddy." Lea cautiously moved forward again and placed a hand on each of Sora's shoulders. "You doing all right?"

Sora was starting to shake. His whole body trembled. "Riku... Riku's not..." Sora turned to look as Kairi came forward and wrapped an arm around his back. "Kairi..." Sora whispered. And then he passed out.

x-x-x

Lea slowly lowered Sora to the ground. Kairi kept her grip on him. "Will he be all right?" Kairi asked shakily.

Lea scratched at the back of his neck. "Probably." _Hopefully_. He looked over at the keyblade that Isa – _Saïx_ – had left behind. It sure looked real enough. Could it be boobytrapped or something? Lea respected the others, sure, but he still felt he was the one who could take more hits. He picked up the keyblade before anyone else could, and gave it a couple practice swings. Nothing happened. "Feels real enough," he commented aloud. "But I thought keyblades disappeared when something happened to their wielder..."

"Most of the time they do. But not always," Mickey answered. "Especially at... the end, the keyblades tend to remain behind."

Lea's eyes widened. "You think Saïx was actually telling the truth then?"

"I... I don't know. I hope not, but... at the least, Riku is presently out of our reach."

Lea fidgeted, switching the keyblade handle between hands. "What does that mean for our plan, then? Riku was—"

"Not here!" Mickey interrupted sharply. "We need to regroup and plan our next move. But not where we can be overhead. Donald! Goofy!"

The two named animal beings snapped to attention at Sora's sides. "Yes, your majesty!" they parroted.

"Hurry to Yen Sid and warn him that we're all coming. Meanwhile, Lea... can you give me a hand with Sora?"

"Sure, no problem." Lea shoved the keyblade into the mouse king's arms, then scooped Sora up unceremoniously and draped him over his shoulder. The advantage of being the one big guy around here. "Let's go."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas popped out of his dark corridor into The World that Never Was and immediately opened another dark corridor and slipped into it. No one was likely following him, but he wanted to make sure. The members of Organization XIII were no allies, for all that they were purportedly on the same side. This second corridor was much shorter and only took Vanitas to a different part of Never Was. There was a narrow alley Vanitas squeezed down, and then a broken window he climbed into. In all his searching, he had not found any other entrance to this part of the building. For all that Never Was resembled a real world, most of it had not been consciously built, and had never been intended to use. The nobody's castle had been created deliberately, but the rest of the buildings had somehow grown out of chaotic magic on their own. No logic applied to their structure, and so it was perfectly reasonable that Vanitas could find a section of rooms and corridors that were completely disconnected from everything else, and only accessible by one small window.

Despite this isolation, Vanitas still made his way further in, finally taking up space in a small closet and pulling the door closed. The absolute darkness would bother any creature, even those born of the dark. But only this space was small enough that even Xehanort would not be able to open a dark corridor to reach into it. Vanitas was as safe as he could possibly be. It was time to get started.

x-x-x

Riku sensed something happening, and fought his way back to awareness. His memory came only in faint wisps. He recognized he was still in the spherical cage made of solidified darkness that he had seen the last time he was lucid. This time he could see something beyond the bars – dimly lit structures of houses and other buildings. The style made him think of Traverse Town, but the coloring was all wrong. Everything felt dark, twisted...

Something started bubbling up from the bottom of the cage. Riku backed up as far away as he could, but the cage was small. A humanoid form came into being, slowly growing to Riku's height, and then solidifying and gaining features that were uncomfortably familiar. Riku saw his own face grinning back at him, though the eyes were an unnatural red, and the toothy grin just a little too wide...

Then Riku started sinking into the floor. Not that he wanted to remain in the cage, but it was only natural to panic and struggle when one starts getting swallowed up by the ground. His resistance was in vain, though, and he soon sank all the way down and began falling.

Everything was black. Riku knew he was falling only by the sensation of it. But then he could faintly see something, some form of illumination. And then he hit the ground.

Somehow, he landed on his feet. Riku staggered and barely stayed up. His heart rate doubled as the edge of the platform started crumbling under his feet. He jumped forward to the center of the mostly triangular ledge that was floating in this great void of nothing. "Where _am_ I?"

"Quit flailing around. I don't have much time left. And you're going to help me."

Riku spun and jumped back at the voice suddenly behind him. And nearly fell off the ledge again. But an arm shot forward and grabbed him by his vest, pulling him back. Riku's eyes widened. "Sora! You... No. You're... _Vanitas_." Now Riku remembered a specific painful moment, involving Vanitas and a keyblade. He didn't know how to reconcile it with his current situation. "Where _are_ we?"

"In my heart. Where else? Now quit stalling. I need you to do something for me."

Riku pushed back. "Why would I ever help you?!"

"You want to help your pitiful friends, right? I don't care about them, but this will help them, too." Vanitas paused, then said with absolute seriousness, "I want you to put Xehanort's heart inside me to sleep. It's your friends' only chance."

"What?"

Vanitas scowled. "Are you seriously so stupid? Do I have to spell it out for you?" In response to Riku's glare, Vanitas groaned melodramatically. "Fiiiine. But I'm only doing this once, so listen close:

"You can wake up hearts, or put them to sleep, right? That was the whole point of that cute little test you and Sora were taking that Xehanort hijacked. You sure got lucky. But do you even know _why_ you got so lucky? Did you even _once_ think about the fact that Xehanort knew _the exact time and place_ to find you and Sora. And he knew far enough in advance to arrange for all his vessels to be there at the same time?"

Riku squirmed a little. "Well, I... I know he can travel through time. So he must have arranged it by time travel."

"You haven't thought this through at all, have you? Have your friends?" Vanitas asked archly. "No, probably not. If you had, you idiots would be a lot more scared."

"Just get to the point," Riku snapped, trying to push aside his unease.

Vanitas snarled and started forward, but them reined himself back in. "Are you really so dense?! _Xehanort uses time travel to tell his past selves what is going to happen and how to prepare for it!_ He knew _exactly_ what you imbeciles were going to try, and he had all the time in the world to prepare to stop you!"

Riku blanched, then recovered. "But we were able to beat him! He didn't turn Sora into his vessel like he wanted to. How did we manage _that_ if he can see the future?"

"Finally, a hint of intelligence." Vanitas crossed his arms. " _That_ is the question you should have been asking."

"Are you going to tell me or just keep insulting me...?"

"Your ignorance is painful."

"I thought you said you were running out of time..."

Vanitas growled again. "I can't believe I'm depending on _you!_ " He turned away and blasted off waves off darkness into the void with a feral cry. Riku could only watch. Once Vanitas was finished venting, he turned to face Riku. "Let's try this again.

"Future Xehanort watches the outcomes of all your efforts to stop him. If any look close to succeeding, he travels back in time and tells his past selves what to expect. Then his past selves stop you and herd you in paths that complement his plans."

"Why didn't he stop us from saving Sora then? I mean... I know he wants us to gather the Seven Lights for him... But why go to so much effort to claim Sora to just let him get away?"

Vanitas nodded. "What it means is that Xehanort's vision has dead spots. Or rather, future timelines that are washed out by light. Which means there are _some_ events he cannot see the outcome of. I think it's some side effect of all the time travel. He doesn't _share_ these details with us, of course, but in retrospect there are some hints to them. For example, whenever he spoke of the day he would claim Sora as his final vessel, he never spoke beyond the moment of 'placing his heart into his prepared vessel.' So everything up to that moment, he saw and prepared for."

"But after that moment is when Lea dropped in and stopped him. Xehanort hadn't foreseen that."

Vanitas nodded. "Nor likely the farm animals appearing as well. If he had, he would have certainly been prepared for it."

Riku ignored the dig at Donald and Goofy and pondered everything Vanitas had just revealed. "So, that means our plan for facing Xehanort..."

"The plan that centered around luring him to the Keyblade Graveyard and then _you_ putting the world to sleep, trapping him there? Yes, he's already seen it all. And it must have been going to work, too. Why else would he send _all_ his vessels after you to kill you?"

"Kill me?" Riku sputtered. "But you didn't – I'm not dead..."

"Thank you again for stating the obvious. Yes, you are not dead. And the reason why—"

"You want me to put Xehanort's heart inside you to sleep," Riku said thoughtfully.

Vanitas started, then clapped ironically. "Looks like you actually pay attention sometimes! I guess that's why they made you a keyblade master."

Riku ignored Vanitas's sarcasm. "But won't Xehanort notice if I put his heart to sleep?"

Vanitas waggled a finger. "Blindspot. He watches all you heroes, and he watches all his vessels, but only on the outside. As long as I keep following his orders... as much as I ever do... he won't realize anything has changed. No one's ever broken his control before. He has no reason to expect it."

"But unless there's another dead spot in his vision, he'll still catch on sooner than later."

"Bingo. And I think there is another one. Unfortunately, it's the moment _after_ the X-Blade appears."

Riku really felt like he might faint. "We... can't stop him from summoning the X-Blade..."

"Nope. Unfortunately for everyone. But what can be changed is _what happens after._ The X-Blade is going to appear. But Xehanort doesn't have to be the one to get his hands on it." He struck a pose and grinned smugly.

Riku looked at Vanitas incredulously. "You? I'm supposed to trust _you_ with the X-Blade more than Xehanort?"

"I don't want to destroy all of existence! I just want to be whole!" Vanitas snapped. He turned away, fists clenching. He held his emotions inside this time instead of violently venting them out. "Haven't they told you about me? I was _created_ to be a being of darkness. My whole existence has been pain and suffering _by design._ "

"You and... uh, Ventus. You were split in half. So that Xehanort could make you fight and make the X-Blade."

"Exactly. He was trying to take shortcuts to summon the X-Blade and bring about the Keyblade War before. But he's learned to be a lot more cautious now. All 20 pieces together – 7 lights and 13 darknesses..." Vanitas trailed off, staring into the void. "I was supposed to be _whole!_ But Ventus _ruined it_ and now I... I have no purpose anymore."

"You... you still have a purpose." Riku felt really awkward trying to comfort Vanitas. "You're your own person—"

"I don't want to be!" Vanitas snapped, grabbing Riku by his vest again. "I don't _want_ to be a separate person! I want to be _whole!_ Like I was _supposed_ to be." He released Riku and pushed him away. "And the only way I'm going to get that _now_ is to stop Xehanort. Because he may think he's chasing some great secret, but _I_ think he's just going to destroy everything and end up with _nothing._ "

"Okay then." Riku folded his arms. "So what's the plan? I put Xehanort's heart inside you to sleep. You play along that everything's still the same. Then you steal the X-Blade before Xehanort can use it. Is that it?"

"Best I can offer you, hero boy." Vanitas shrugged. "I almost got erased for saving your life. So you owe me this."

"I'll do it. But I don't like it." Riku squeezed his eyes closed. "It feels like there's too much that can go wrong. But I think I believe you... this is the only thing I can do now that might escape Xehanort's notice."

"All right." Vanitas held out a hand. "Let's get going."

Riku hesitated, looking around and down at the crumbling platform below his feet again. "You said you were running out of time. Are you... falling apart?"

Vanitas scowled again. "Look, don't worry about it. It just means we can't waste any more time."

"Your heart was broken, too, like Ventus's. Sora was able to stabilize Ventus by sharing his heart with him. I wonder if I could..." Riku trailed off as he knelt down and placed both palms against the dark surface. He closed his eyes and reached down with his heart... and found the connection. The heart station shimmered and started reforming into a circle.

"What did you do?!" Vanitas shrieked.

"I'm stabilizing you. Like Sora did for Ventus." The circle was now large, whole and solid. It brightened just enough to make visible a very dark stained glass image, featuring a large motif of Vanitas, with smaller circles including Ventus, Sora, and Riku.

"I don't appreciate you adding yourself to my heart," Vanitas snarled.

"It's your fault I'm here," Riku retorted, straightening up fully again. "So now that I've given you more time, let's get on with the plan."

Vanitas growled and blasted more dark energy off the ledge into the void. But this time it only resolved itself into a dark corridor. "Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: Wow, thanks for all the positive response for just the first chapter! I hope you enjoy this next chapter as well._

Chapter 2

Yen Sid's tower chamber was quite crowded. All the keyblade wielders were there, plus the king and several denizens of Disney Castle. The mood was solemn. The old wizard spent several moments studying the Braveheart keyblade with silent intensity. At last he sighed and closed his eyes. "It is an authentic keyblade. And its connection to its wielder has been severed."

Mickey's posture deflated. "So Riku is dead then."

"No..." Sora whispered helplessly.

"Ehhhh... I don't buy it." Lea drew everyone's eyes to him. "I mean, it just doesn't feel right. Sure, that's what Xehanort _wants_ us to think. But why not send a body? Why leave us room to question it?" He shrugged. "Xehanort likes shock value. Mind games are his normal M.O. So why not make us _think_ Riku is dead, and then bring him out later to use as a hostage or something."

"Master Yen Sid. _Is_ there a way a keyblade can be... um, severed... without the wielder dying?" Kairi asked.

Yen Sid pressed his palms together, staring straight ahead as he thought. "It is... not a situation that has been documented. Keyblade wielders are relatively few, you must understand. The keyblade... is born from the wielder's heart. When not needed, or when the heart is too weak, the keyblade returns to the heart. But if in a sudden, violent event, the keyblade is no longer able to detect the heart... that is when the keyblade remains behind in the real world. At least, as far as I understand it."

"'Sudden, violent event,' huh," Lea repeated. "My personal experience with having my heart ripped out would certainly count for that."

Sora immediately latched onto that. "So Xehanort... might have just made Riku into a heartless?"

"That situation is _still_ very dire," Yen Sid reminded Sora. "But yes, as you are no doubt thinking: it _is_ reversible. Potentially."

"Right." Sora completely ignored the qualifier. "So now we just need to find Riku's heart to get him back!"

"Uh, _and_ his body, don't be forgetting," Lea interjected. "I'm sure Xehanort isn't going to make it easy. He'll probably make him another dark seeker, too, while he's at it." Lea mumbled that last bit.

Kairi fidgeted. "Xehanort planned this to distract us, didn't he? We still haven't rescued Aqua, or woken Ventus. And now we have to worry about Riku, too."

"Ack! We don't have time to rescue Riku!" Donald squawked.

"We _can't_ abandon him," Sora countered.

"We're not going to, Sora." Kairi put her hand on his shoulder. "But we can't just abandon all our plans to go after him _now_. Xehanort almost has everything he needs in place, and he won't wait for us to catch up."

"But we _need_ Riku for our plans!" Sora protested. "I can wake hearts up, but Riku's the only one who can put them to sleep! How _else_ can we seal Xehanort away?"

"We're going to have to come up with a different plan, Sora," Mickey said. "Somehow Xehanort must have gotten wind of what we were planning."

"Are you saying... we have a spy?" Sora gasped. He eyed Lea suspiciously.

"Why are you looking at me?!" Lea sputtered. "I _saved_ you from Xehanort! You seriously still think I'm working for him?"

Sora looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry, Lea. I do trust you. I just..."

"We should not waste time looking for what may not exist," Yen Sid said. "Xehanort has proven himself remarkably canny thus far. He knew the goal of Sora and Riku's mastery exam. He may have simply been able to deduce my intentions from there."

Everyone in the room slumped a bit. Donald shook his head. "So, what do we do now?" he rasped.

"We've got to go ahead with the plans we still have," Mickey said, speaking up with authority. "We need to try again to save Aqua from the darkness. We need to locate and train Sora with the Key to Return Hearts. We need to locate and awaken Ventus. And... we need to rescue your Nobodies from your hearts," speaking to Sora and Kairi.

"But... won't Xehanort know we're going to do all that?" Sora asked, rubbing his head.

"We have no choice," Yen Sid said. "To do nothing will be to hand victory over to Xehanort."

"We've just got to play it Xehanort's way," Lea mused. At the shocked looks he got, he awkwardly flapped his hands and clarified. "We need to think through how we expect Xehanort to react in each case. And then prepare ourselves for it."

Yen Sid nodded in agreement. "How do you suggest we proceed first, Lea?"

"Me? Uh..." Lea rubbed the back of his neck and looked off to the side. "Well, we can't wake Ventus without Aqua. Since we don't know where he is and all. So we need to rescue Aqua first. But also, we're getting short-staffed here, so we'll need Roxas back. But to get _him_ back, we need the Key to Return Hearts..."

"So, it sounds like we have two missions now. Rescuing Aqua. And finding that key." Mickey turned and studied everyone in the room. "Both will be dangerous, but we can't afford _not_ to split up. Otherwise we'll have no chance to be ready in time. We need to make two teams."

"Agreed," Yen Sid said. "Mickey, you select the team you feel best to confront Aqua."

Mickey deliberated for a long, tense moment. His tail twitched rhythmically as he thought. "Riku and I were no match for Aqua. But we were caught off guard. We know better what to expect this time. Even still… I think I'll need both Sora and Kairi with me. Kairi can help me reason with Aqua, try to get through to her. And Sora can dive into her heart to help her push out Xehanort's influence. It's our best bet."

"We will come with you, too!" Donald exclaimed, and Goofy agreed.

"No, guys," Mickey said, shaking his head.

Donald threw a fit. "Your Majesty, we're supposed to protect _you!_ It's our job!"

Mickey waved his hands defensively. "Donald, I know! I understand! But we can't leave Lea unprotected."

"Hey! It's not like I'm defenseless, you know."

"Neither was Riku, but they managed to defeat him anyway," Mickey countered grimly. "Please. Donald, Goofy. Make sure nothing happens to Lea. We can't lose anyone else."

"Uh, aye-aye, your majesty!" Goofy agreed. Donald just groaned, but that was usually as close as he came to changing his mind anyway.

"Very well then." Yen Sid took over the conversation again. "Mickey, you and your team will go to recover Aqua. Meanwhile, Lea, you will lead a team to locate the Key to Return Hearts."

Lea shifted uncomfortably. "You guys keep talking about this special key… Where would I even start looking?"

"The same place it was last seen. Master Eraqus was the last keeper of that key, in the Land of Departure."

"Uh… I'm pretty sure I've never heard of that land before."

"Its name has been changed, in recent times. You would remember it as Castle Oblivion."

Lea's face went through the full range of expression from confused to horrified to resigned. "Ugh. Didn't think I'd be heading back to _that_ place any time soon."

"Is there a problem?" Yen Sid asked.

"No…" Lea said. Then he mumbled under his breath about 'icky jobs.' "No, I'm good. When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible. Oh, and Lea? You may consider recruiting some _others_ to assist you in your search."

Lea flinched at that. "No, no. We're good. We don't need anyone else's help."

"Gawrsh, Lea," Goofy said, in his charmingly oblivious way. "It's a big castle! Don'tcha think we'll need all the help we can get?"

"Eeehhh…" Lea groaned. "I'll think about it."

"Lea," Yen Sid said firmly.

Lea gesticulated wildly. "I don't think you understand. I _really don't think they like me!"_ He shook his head. "But fine! If we need help, I'll go ask the _others."_

"Wha–? Who?" Sora asked, feeling like he was being left out of something.

"Don't worry about it," Lea summoned a chakram, fidgeted with it, then banished it back away. "It's fine. I know some people I can ask. Who knows? They might even agree to help us."

"Then it is all settled," Yen Sid said emphatically. He might even be smiling, if he ever smiled. "Go at once, all of you. And be safe. If you feel you might be outmatched, do not hesitate to retreat and try another path. We cannot afford to be reckless."

"Or we can't afford _not_ to be," Lea mumbled, to himself. He didn't make eye contact with the others. The others pretended that they hadn't heard him.

"Y-yeah. Yeah!" Sora forced some artificial optimism into his voice and pumped a fist into the air. "Riku and Aqua are counting on us. Let's go!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku had no idea what to expect Xehanort's heart to look like. Vanitas just said "follow me" and then directed Riku into a dive down, down, down through a corridor full of red-eyed, shadowy monsters. Luckily, Riku had no trouble summoning his keyblade here, and he was able to dispatch the monsters without too much trouble. Much sooner than he had expected, Riku passed through the final portal and landed in… an unfamiliar place.

The air was dry, and the ground was dusty. And clouds of dust obscured any view of the distant landscape. But the dust didn't obscure the hundreds and hundreds of spikes sticking out of the ground. Riku cautiously moved closer.

They weren't spikes. They were all keyblades. All different, at least subtly. Most were severely rusted or corroded.

"The Keyblade Graveyard…?" Riku murmured to himself. "No. A representation of it." Yen Sid had told them briefly of the place. Even knowing what to expect didn't really prepare him for how grim it was.

Distracted as he was by staring at the rows and rows of abandoned keyblades, Riku didn't realize that the ground beneath his feet was growing unstable. His next step sent him plummeting down into a deep pit. But soon it was no longer a pit he was falling into; rather, he was now falling down from the sky. Below him a castle appeared. Riku landed on an upper parapet and looked around. Something about this place struck him as familiar, but he couldn't place it. No one seemed to be around. Riku wandered the grassy plaza until he found a doorway and made his way inside.

Inside, the castle was strangely warped. Riku wondered at the significance of it. The mostly white walls seemed generally intact, but in a few places, it looked like they had started to melt and decay. Like darkness had seeped into the walls? The corruption didn't seem active, so Riku moved on.

As he descended levels, the amount of corruption rapidly increased. Wispy, dark monsters started appearing. They didn't appear to be heartless or nightmares, though the hostile intent of them was similar to both the former. Riku's keyblade jumped easily to his hand and he dispatched them without thought.

It seemed strange to Riku that his keyblade took the form of the Braveheart blade, rather than the much more familiar Way to Dawn. It seemed that even in his heart, where memories and dreams could live forever, he had already fully accepted the new keyblade and moved on. It didn't feel wrong – it just… surprised him.

The number of hallways were increasing, but Riku simply picked the paths that showed the greatest concentration of the strange, red-eyed monsters. At last, Riku found himself in a large, important looking chamber. The corruption of the room was almost complete. Every wall, floor tile, and ornament were oozing with a toxic darkness. Riku tried to tread cautiously, remembering his earlier fall, but it was difficult, since he also had to dispatch another monster with nearly every step. At least they were all smaller creatures.

The center of the room had distinctive sinkhole-like sagging to it. With a corresponding sinking in his heart, Riku made his way toward it and reluctantly let himself be swallowed up by the gelatinous floor.

As before, the falling transition brought Riku to a new location. This one made him tense up in a combination of fear and anger. This seemed to be a narrow tower, reminiscent of Yen Sid's, but done in the decorating style of Maleficent. Even the _aura_ here felt similar to Maleficent. Riku tried to push aside the fury he still felt for that deceitful old fairy. It was _extremely_ unlikely to actually be her. He forced himself to press forward, as that sense of oppressive darkness was most likely his target.

At the top of a twisting, crumbling stairway was a locked door. Riku whipped out his keyblade and unlocked it in an instant, allowing himself a grim smile. Then he dashed inside, anticipating a fight and not wanting to be caught off guard.

His instinct served him well. An ugly old man with an uglier smile was waiting for him with a keyblade. Riku was able to completely dodge Xehanort's initial attack and land a fierce combo of blows on him before he was ready to strike again.

The battle went on just like any other, much to Riku's amazement. For all the talk he and the others had heard about this ancient, dangerous man… Riku had honestly expected that fighting him one on one would have been much harder. Or at least, as difficult as Riku's fight against Xehanort's younger self had been, back when he had been fighting to save Sora's heart. And so it seemed rather unreal, and too easy, when Riku was able to counter the old man's last attack and send Xehanort tumbling against the wall in a heap. Riku stood there, staring and breathing hard, watching the old man and waiting for a trick. After the count of three, Riku cautiously aimed the point of the keyblade at Xehanort and called a keyhole into existence. Then, willing with all his heart for this to work, he used Braveheart to put Xehanort to sleep and lock the heart in place.

Everything seemed to work just as it should. It still seemed too easy, but Riku couldn't deny that it seemed to be done. The image of Xehanort faded slowly to a monochromatic gray, and as he faded, the color seemed to seep back into the world. The tower remained as rundown looking as before, but the stone brightened from black to gray. And the oppressive sense of darkness disappeared. A buzz of darkness remained in the background, but Riku suspected that might come from Vanitas himself.

"Can it really be that easy?" Riku muttered to himself. "How could Xehanort himself be so weak?" But then, as his mind recalled back to the two occasions he had seen Xehanort before – during the mastery test, as Xehanort had tried to claim Sora; and at the ambush in the City of the Bells, where Riku had been bested – suddenly Xehanort's strategy made more sense. Xehanort's heart was _durable_ but maybe no longer particularly strong. He had not accidentally chosen his various lieutenants to be persons of significant combat ability. There was a reason Xehanort had sent _all_ of his dark counterparts after Riku. Xehanort was _afraid_ of the power of those who fought for the light. Xehanort knew that alone, he would lose. And so he was going to great extremes to be sure he was never alone.

It was time to get back to Vanitas. Riku needed to be sure Xehanort wasn't going to get wise to what Riku had just done. But then, if this had really worked… This was just one small blow against Xehanort. Riku wanted to do a lot more.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"What's in there?" Donald rasped, poking at a large, glass-paned tank. It was full of a thick, murky, gray liquid that mostly concealed something floating inside.

"A-hyuck, yeah that looks kind of like one of those sleeping pods that we all woke up in!"

Lea finally turned to look and blanched. "Uh… Yeah… You guys don't really want to see what's inside there. Let's move on."

"But there could be a clue!" Donald insisted.

"No, no, no, there really couldn't be. That's _Vexen's_ stuff. Way too recent. Okay, nothing else to see in here!" Lea forcibly pushed the protesting duck and dog out the door. "Let's move on! Next floor!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Wow, Kairi, I wouldn't have believed you could brighten up even the Realm of Darkness!" Sora exclaimed.

Kairi giggled, self-conscious, and more than a bit nervous. She had her keyblade out and knew not to lower her guard. Sora and Mickey were similarly on alert. But so far, the attacks on them had been few. Mickey had expected a Princess of Heart to attract more attention, but Kairi's very being also repulsed the heartless who came close to them. Only the largest, strongest ones would dare to attack.

Sora was fine with that. He really didn't like the idea of Kairi fighting, even though she had shown herself capable before. "So, uh, your majesty? How much longer until we reach Aqua?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, Sora. Time and space are inconsistent here. It could be minutes or… It could be hours."

"So, we might even be just going around in circles?" Sora groaned.

"Don't give up, Sora. We can do this," Kairi said.

Sora straightened up. "I… I wasn't complaining. I just meant… I wish we had something to go on."

"We have our hearts. We just have to trust that they'll lead us right," Mickey said.

Sora nodded very emphatically. "You're right. Our hearts must know the way." He placed a hand on his chest and closed his eyes. "And my heart tells me we're going the right direction."

"Mine does, too," Kairi said with a smile as she came to stand right beside Sora.

Mickey paused and took a bit longer to check in with his heart compass. His ears twitched as he focused, and Sora had to stifle a giggle. "It won't be much further now," Mickey finally said, then strode confidently ahead the direction they'd been going. "Let's hurry. We're almost there!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku tried at first to retrace his steps back to where the avatar of Vanitas's consciousness resided, but soon had to just give up and use his keyblade to open a path. He was worried about finding the right layer of Vanitas's heart, considering he had dropped down several levels lower from where he had started. And he also worried about reaching _out_ too far and exiting Vanitas's heart entirely. From what he presumed, he no longer could call his body his own. He had no desire to deal with possession again. But more importantly, he couldn't risk Xehanort learning what he was attempting.

His first attempt to jump back out of the depths of the heart only landed him back at the keyblade graveyard. Riku spared it only a brief glance before aiming his keyblade at the sky again and jumping up one layer more.

Riku's aim was precise, and he arrived back at Vanitas's heart station. But Riku was the only one there. "Vanitas!" he yelled into the void. "I'm back! Vanitas?!"

No response. Riku waited a while – how long, he couldn't say. He had no way to track the time passing, save counting seconds, and he had no desire to do that. That was something _Sora_ would do.

 _I hope Sora's okay. Have they noticed my absence yet...?_

At last, Riku gave in to impatience and made another jump, aiming up one level more. He was truly anxious about jumping so close to the upper edge of Vanitas's heart, but it seemed it couldn't be helped. He needed to reconnect with his unlikely ally, to find out if Xehanort had gotten wise to them...

Riku could feel himself being pulled upward quickly – too fast. His heart was being pulled back to his body! Riku had to fight the natural pull with all his strength so that he could continue in the unnatural direction. The void around him was brightening rapidly, but Riku finally saw the portal he was seeking and dove through it, veering sideways instead of up.

Riku skidded awkwardly across the ground and slammed into a wall. He groaned and lay there a moment, feeling weirdly conflicted about being _relieved_ about successfully resisting his body's pull to recomplete itself.

Finally he got up and took a look around. He didn't recognize the dark brick buildings as any place he had been, but guessed he was back in the place where he had started out stuck in a cage. "Vanitas?" he tried calling out again. He was tired of randomly wandering. "Vanitas!"

A swirl of darkness preceded Vanitas's reappearance. "Don't go yelling around here! It's not safe!"

"Xehanort's heart is asleep. And he shouldn't be able to hear us in here, anyway!"

"Xehanort isn't the only dangerous thing in _my_ heart." Vanitas looked downright smug at the declaration. But he quickly let it slide. "So, you managed to do it?"

"Yes. It seemed... surprisingly easy. I thought he'd be stronger," Riku confessed.

But Vanitas didn't seem surprised. "Of course he's weaker. He's always been fighting _me_ for control of this body. Yeah, I mostly obey him – or he'd destroy me. But I don't like being yanked around. I like to remind him from time to time that I'm not his loyal dog!"

Riku stared back at Vanitas a moment. "He's got to be even more desperate than I thought to keep you around."

"Hey!" Vanitas exploded – darkness literally burst out of him and formed itself into a dozen monsters.

Riku quickly backpedaled. "I didn't mean it as an insult! I mean – you're constantly fighting him. And yet he puts up with you. Even though you said you've lost your intended role."

Vanitas glared at Riku, then slowly absorbed the monsters back inside himself. "What's your point then?"

"I don't really have one... I'm just thinking aloud. Have you seen any signs that Xehanort has noticed that anything has changed?"

"I haven't been able to sense anything. I guess I should test it to make sure his control has really been broken."

"Right. So, what's something Xehanort has forbidden you to do?"

"Kill people," Vanitas said with a terrible grin.

"Not that!" Riku snapped, even though he was half-sure Vanitas was just baiting him. "Something else, you psychopath."

Vanitas grinned at the label, then scowled as he thought. "I'm not supposed to talk to other people. Or tell them what Xehanort is planning."

"Okay, fine. So we go to a random world, and you tell someone that an evil old dude is going to destroy the universe. Does that work?"

Vanitas brightened again, which made Riku worry he'd made a mistake. "Yes, my little pet. That sounds like a wonderful idea! And I know just the place!"

"Great. And don't you call me your pet again, or I'll give you a firsthand demonstration of what I did to Xehanort's heart."

"Sure thing, pet." Vanitas winked at Riku and dissolved into darkness.

Riku knew this was going to be a thing and there was nothing he could do about it.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Gawrsh, Lea. So who were those other people Master Yen Sid wanted ya to bring?"

Lea stopped abruptly in his attempt to shoulder a stuck door open. He turned to look at Goofy, and saw Donald glaring at him, tapping a foot on the floor.

Lea groaned. "Fiiiine. Yen Sid meant the other recompleted Organization members. You know, _others._ He must think he's so funny…"

"What?!" Donald sputtered. "But they're the bad guys!"

"Hey." Lea pointed at his chest. "Former bad guy right here." He took a couple steps back, then charged at the door with all the force he could muster. The door was unimpressed. _Aeleus could pop this open one-handed,_ a traitorous thought flickered through his mind. "It doesn't matter anyway, though, since those guys don't really like me. And you don't trust them, besides, so..."

"Aw, but if Master Yen Sid thinks we should get them, don't you think we should give them a chance?"

Donald looked back and forth a few times between Goofy and Lea. He was clearly unsure who he wanted to side with. At last he gave up and sighed loudly. "I don't like it. But haven't we run out of rooms we can get into?"

"I... can... get into... this... room!" Lea insisted, while simultaneously proving himself wrong. His shoulder was starting to hurt. He kicked the door. That did nothing, either.

"Have you tried your keyblade?" Goofy suggested.

Lea carefully struck a pose – he had found it helped – and on the second try got his keyblade to flash into being. He pointed it at the stubborn door. "Open!" he yelled.

Nothing happened.

"Gee, maybe the door isn't locked," Goofy observed.

"It _isn't_ locked!" Lea snapped. "It's just stuck! That's why I've been... aw, forget it." Lea gave the keyblade in his hand a long look, then he let go and let it dissolve away. He gave the door one more dirty look, and threw a fireball at it for good measure. The door remained unaffected. "Okay, fine. Let's go see if you can convince the others not to kill me."

"Gawrsh, Lea. I thought they were your friends!"

"Friends… uh yeah, about that…"

X-X-X-X-X-X

"We're here, pet!" Vanitas declared in a singsong voice.

"Where's here?" Riku countered coldly, determined to not let Vanitas get to him.

Vanitas summoned his keyblade and tapped it on a darkened store window on a darkened building. "Take a look."

Warily, Riku stepped forward and peered into the glass. As he drew closer, the darkness inside whirled and gave way to a bright seascape with a brilliant sun high overhead. Vanitas had given him a way to see what he was seeing in real life. And what Riku was seeing was... unmistakably Destiny Islands.

Of course.

"Any suggestions?" Vanitas asked brightly over Riku's shoulder as the view in the window approached a cluster of people.

Riku recognized Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. Nobody on the island knew the truth about where he and Sora had been or what they had done. Mickey had suggested it needed to be that way. Allowing Vanitas to do this would mean Riku breaking a promise, but...

"Any of them are fine. Just don't you dare try attacking them. Xehanort watches this world, you know. He might get word."

Riku could feel the flare of darkness that likely meant Vanitas was scowling at him. But Vanitas did nothing this time. "Fine, _pet._ "

The real Vanitas in the real world sauntered up to the trio of youths. "Hey there, kids!"

"Where did you come from? Who are you?" Selphie sputtered.

"They don't think you look like Sora?" Riku asked.

Heart-Vanitas countered, "I have my helmet on. I'm not stupid."

Riku had to resist with all his might to not make a dig there. "Okay. Carry on."

Heart-Vanitas growled as though Riku had actually made a snide comment anyway, but then did nothing more.

Meanwhile, real-Vanitas said, "Listen up! I have something super secret to tell you, so be sure you never tell anybody about this!"

Riku groaned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: Just an endnote this time._

Chapter 3

"I didn't feel any resistance at all!" Vanitas declared brightly. "You must have actually done it!"

Riku could only take comfort in the fact that his other Destiny Islands friends had probably not understood a word of Vanitas's "explanation." However, Vanitas had ended the conversation by magically vanishing into a dark corridor. _That_ alone was going to cause some major problems when he got back home. Whenever that was.

Sora would probably get back to the island before him, and so would have to deal with the explanations himself…

"Hey, pet? Nothing to say?"

"Just thinking." Riku switched trains of thought. "How strong is Xehanort's connection between his real heart and all the copies of his heart?"

"Not strong. It's like, nothing," Vanitas snorted. "Does a copy of a photo have a connection to the original? No."

"Okay but… you were implying he still has a connection to you."

"Yes, and it's exactly that: a connection. Chains, really. All of us are chained by our hearts to that stinking piece of—"

"What kind of power do these chains give him?" Riku interrupted.

"Well, they were intended to give him full control over us," Vanitas admitted grudgingly. "Somehow he could use the chains like a path to transfer his full consciousness over and take control of our bodies."

"He can fully control all his vessels like puppets." Riku nodded thoughtfully.

Vanitas grimaced but nodded. "He hasn't tried it for a while. Like you said, I think he's getting weaker, and he knows it. He probably still could though. At least briefly."

"But would it work on you now? Now that his heart is sleeping…?"

"That's the thing," Vanitas said with a shrug. "He wouldn't be able to _instantly_ take control. But whatever you did, he could easily undo once inside my heart."

"So we can't get him suspicious enough to take a look inside."

"Right. Glad you're not completely hopeless."

Riku ignored Vanitas. He was getting better at it. "So Xehanort made the chains as a way for his consciousness to travel…"

"And a way to keep tabs on us. He can peer down the chain to see where we are. Or give a yank to summon us," Vanitas grumbled.

"Right. So you need to not go anywhere suspicious. Well, not any more than you already have," Riku amended. "Going to Destiny Islands was a big risk."

Vanitas was remorseless. "It had to be done. I needed to be sure. From this moment on, I can't act an inch out of line. I have to play at being the good puppet, up until that X-Blade appears."

"Right. And then you'll… what? Fight Xehanort with it? Fight all the other seekers with it?"

"Like you've got a better plan!" Vanitas snapped, temper flaring. "You're the one who's _dead!_ "

Riku kept his face neutral. "Actually, I _do_ think I've got a better plan. We've broken Xehanort's control over you. Why stop there?"

"What? What are you…?" Vanitas's face twisted from confusion to disgust. "You think you can go fight _Xehanort himself_ in his heart?"

"No, not him. The other seekers. I can put his heart inside of them to sleep as well."

Vanitas stared at him, then shook his head. "Are you out of your mind?! That's…! He'll _notice_ for sure!"

Riku folded his arms. "Think about it for a minute. You going up against Xehanort is already a long shot. You want to destroy Xehanort – I do, too. This will _majorly_ increase your chances if you don't have to fight his other seekers as well."

"Well, sure it will. If Xehanort doesn't catch on and destroy us all first!"

"Let me try with one of them," Riku suggested. "Whichever one you think is least likely to want to support Xehanort. But still able to keep a secret."

Vanitas groaned and turned away. "They're all idiots."

"You think everyone is an idiot. That's not saying much."

Vanitas turned back to glare at Riku. "You're the biggest idiot of all."

"Thank you, I'm aware of that. Now, are you going to help me give this a try?"

Vanitas turned away again. He was silent a moment. "I… I'm not good at reading people. They're all just so… ugh!"

"Okay…" Riku tapped his fingers on his arm. "Can you let me see each of them? Like you showed me Destiny Islands? I'm not the best at judging character either, but… we've got to try."

"I don't usually… go _talk_ to people," Vanitas snapped.

"So go pick a fight with them. Say you're training or something."

Vanitas's face slowly twisted into an ugly smile. "Yes… that might actually work. I told Xehanort I needed your heart to gain more power. I can just tell them I'm testing it out!"

"There you go, then." Riku smiled, too, then stopped. "Do you _actually_ need more power? I could probably…."

"You've done enough already, remember?" Vanitas snapped.

 _Oh yeah, the heart station._ Riku nodded. "Good then. We don't want them to be suspicious of your excuse."

Vanitas slowly nodded as well. He gave Riku a long, piercing look. Then he sighed. "Right. We're doing this." He flicked his keyblade at the window again then stood aside to give Riku the view. "Here we go."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas went to the castle in the World that Never Was.

(Didn't we destroy this place?) Riku asked, his presence strong enough that if felt like he was standing at Vanitas's back rather than just whispering to a projection in his heart.

"Xehanort loves his castle," Vanitas snorted, aloud, accidentally. He made sure to keep his next words internal. (This place is really important to his plans, somehow, but for whatever reason he doesn't spend much time here. This world… I think he created it himself. Nobodies and heartless gather here, but I don't know why. So stop asking. It's distracting me.)

Riku just hummed in response, which rankled Vanitas more. Actually, _everything_ Riku did got on his nerves. He just wasn't _afraid_ of him. _Normal_ people were afraid of Vanitas. Those dopey kids on the beach were afraid of Vanitas. What was _wrong_ with Riku?

Vanitas hopped up the sides of a few buildings, not quite flying but certainly not really running. He realized this was the _first_ time he had ever approached the seekers of darkness _on purpose_ before. They were _bound_ to be suspicious. Riku was an idiot.

Unfortunately, Riku was also right that Vanitas alone was not likely going to be enough to destroy Xehanort. He had tried to kill Xehanort before, a few times. That had never ended well. Xehanort wouldn't be surprised to have him try again. Vanitas needed an extra boost – an extra surprise – like Riku had suggested.

Vanitas was never going to tell Riku that he thought he was right. Going forward with the plan should be acknowledgment enough. At least Riku was keeping quiet for now.

The World that Never Was was already incongruous enough, but this greenhouse was even more so. It literally defied gravity: glass-walled cubes popped out perpendicularly from the sides of the tower that the main greenhouse crowned the top of. Tropical plants of every size and color dominated the space inside. Glass and plants – such fragile things, Vanitas noted in disgust. He trod carefully on the glass ceilings, skeptical of their ability to remain in place and not simply break loose and go plummeting down down down to a hard landing.

"Why, Vanitas? What brings you here?" The greenhouse's master had chosen to make an appearance. He kept the hood up, but some of his pink hair poked out the edges anyway.

"This place has gotten even more ridiculous since the last time I saw it," Vanitas snorted, proudly speaking his mind. "You don't have a lot of real work to do, do you?"

(Who's he?) Riku prodded.

(Marluxia. Quiet!)

Marluxia's lip curled as part of a glare that Vanitas could only half see under the hood. "I don't have to justify myself to _you_. What is Xehanort's _failed experiment_ doing up here?"

"I'm no failure." Vanitas summoned his keyblade and took a fighting stance. "Why don't you show me what you can do with your oversized pruning hook."

Marluxia snorted. "You wish to test yourself against _me?_ " He summoned his scythe. "Far be it from me to deny you a beating."

"Bring it on, pinky," Vanitas retorted. Then he charged forward and attacked.

x-x-x

(I hope you're happy,) Vanitas growled at Riku.

(Very,) Riku said.

Vanitas groaned as he slowly sank down against a tree in some heartless-forsaken world he couldn't remember the name of. He gulped down another healing potion. (Now they're _all_ going to be out for my blood!) Well, okay – technically not _all_ of them. Just the seven he had attacked – the ones that had a heart besides Xehanort's – the ones they intended to let Riku target. That ruled out young and old Xehanort, Ansem the heartless, and Xemnas the nobody. The last two were technically vessels, too, but Vanitas and Riku had both agreed they didn't want to take the risk on them.

And Riku's body, too. The risk of Riku getting stuck in there with Xehanort was too great. Vanitas had expected Riku to argue about it, but surprisingly he hadn't.

(I don't think they'll try anything. You beat them all soundly.) Riku sounded way too smug about that.

Vanitas was certainly never going to do anything like _thank_ Riku for the in-battle help he had given. Riku's suggestions had offered Vanitas a more strategic, less aggressive strategy – no doubt what he had used against the Organization members before. And it had worked. Vanitas was almost having an existential crisis that this _kid_ could give him legitimate advice. If he'd had a proper heart, Vanitas supposed he would have been grateful. Of course, _that_ was the reason he was doing all this, Vanitas reminded himself. Riku had bought him some more time, but that was all.

Since Xehanort had brought Vanitas back by… whatever means it had been – prying him out of the memories of his heart and forcing him back into physical form – Vanitas had been haunted by the horrible, hopeless sensation of fading away after Ventus had defeated him and destroyed their X-Blade. Vanitas _should_ have got back to Ventus's heart – was _supposed_ to. Instead he had faded away to nothingness, into the darkness. Until Xehanort had brought him back.

The two halves needed to be whole again. Xehanort had split them apart in the first place. It made sense that Xehanort was preventing the reunification from happening. How, Vanitas didn't know. He really didn't understand most of what was going on. He doubted that even Xehanort did. But regardless, it was reason enough to seek Xehanort's end. Without that crazy old meddler around, Vanitas would finally have the freedom to think, to figure out how to get the reunification to work right.

And maybe even have a real conversation with Ventus.

Maybe…

(You okay there? I could try a healing spell…)

(Don't be stupid. You can't heal my body from inside my heart!) Vanitas snapped.

(We won't know unless I try,) Riku countered.

(Fine! Try it.)

Riku cast a curaga. Vanitas instantly felt much, much better. And he felt mortified. This was another thing that he was just going to try to pretend never happened. And yet… (Why didn't you do that while Larxene was electrocuting me?!)

(I didn't know if it would work then! And besides… I worried they might catch on we were working together if I started healing you in public.)

(I could just lie and tell them I've learned healing magic.)

(Wouldn't Xehanort know better though?)

Vanitas's real form grimaced. Good thing he had his mask on. Better yet that no one was around. (Fine, you win. But you're healing me right after every fight I pick for you. Got it?)

(Deal.) Once again, Riku sounded way too pleased about all this.

Whatever. Vanitas was done talking about this. (So, did you pick your target?)

(Yeah, let's start with an easy one. As soon as you're recovered.)

(I'm recovered. Let's go!) Vanitas snapped. The clock was ticking. Time was counting down.

(Okay then. I want to start with–)

X-X-X-X-X-X

"And none of you thought to tell us that Even has gone missing?!" Lea demanded.

"Well you see, in times before, he would occasionally go off on his own for several days," Ienzo started to explain.

"When was the last time anyone saw him?" Donald asked, trying to get back to business.

"What did he say?" Dilan asked, scratching his head. He looked to Aeleus, who just shrugged.

"When did you last see Even?" Lea translated.

"That's what I said!" Donald squawked, hopping with indignation. He bumped into Goofy who was gawping at the laboratory with great curiosity.

Goofy stumbled, caught his feathered companion, then regained his balance. "Uh, sorry fellers. What were you saying?"

"Great team you've got here, Axel," Dilan snarked, folding his arms.

"It's Lea! _Lea!_ You don't hear me calling you _Xaldin_ , do you?!"

"Why are you here, Lea? It surely wasn't to inquire after Even," Ienzo said. "And I believe it has been over a week since I last spoke to Even. For what's it's worth."

Lea massaged his temples with both hands. "Great. Just great. Are any of his notes or papers missing?"

"Most of them are gone…" Ienzo hesitated. "He left a note saying he needed them for a new research project."

"Wonderful. Can this get any worse?" Lea complained up at the ceiling. He let his hands fall to his sides. "Well, at least you three are still here. That's something."

Dilan raised an eyebrow. "Where else would we be….?"

"Riku is dead," Lea said bluntly. "Xehanort targeted him specifically, then sent Saïx over to gloat about it. There's a good chance he took Even as well."

The ex-organization members, hardened criminals though they had been, paled at the revelation. Dilan recovered first. "We can't stay here! This castle has no defenses to speak of. And against Xehanort…"

"If Xehanort wanted you, he probably would have already grabbed you. For what it's worth." Lea massaged his temples again. "There must be something of Even's research that Xehanort wants."

"Or Vexen's research," Ienzo suggested softly.

Lea nodded. "Right. Or Vexen's work." Lea shook his head. "Anyway – I agree, you shouldn't stay here. I thought Xehanort had decided to leave the rest of us alone. But… I guess not. We can't risk… can't risk him getting his hands on anyone else from our side."

Aeleus finally spoke. "So what _did_ bring you here? We have only been exchanging news to this point."

"Finally!" Donald snapped. "We need you guys to come with us to Castle Oblivion for a very important mission!"

"What?" Both Dilan and Ienzo asked it simultaneously this time.

While Goofy placated a fuming Donald, Lea explained, "Yen Sid has requested your help with a mission. It's… someplace familiar."

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Demyx!" Vanitas said in a singsong voice, filling the doorway.

"What the–?! Why are you in my room?!" Demyx awkwardly stumbled off his bed and scrambled to his feet, summoning his attack sitar. He was sporting an impressive black eye and several bandages on his arms. He looked terrified. "You already beat me once today, what more do you want?!"

"I think you mean, what does our _master_ want?" Vanitas said, waggling a finger at Demyx.

On the inside of Vanitas's heart, a different kind of conversation entirely was taking place.

"Are we close enough yet?" Riku asked nervously.

Heart-Vanitas stretched an arm upward. Nothing happened. "Not yet. Hold on."

Riku fidgeted with his gloved hands. Then he reached up to touch his face. Or tried to. His hand collided with a helmet. He tried to tug it off and found he couldn't. "Was it really necessary to disguise me _this much?_ "

Vanitas paused to give Riku a glare. He was currently wearing his helmet, too, so it didn't really translate except through body language. After a moment, Vanitas realized that fact and snorted. "I told you – some of these bozos might actually be _loyal_ to Xehanort, and not just puppets getting yanked along by his heart. Think about it: any of them think they're getting visions of Riku, the glorious blah blah blah hero of light, what's the first thing they'll do? The first thing they'll do is go ask Xehanort about it!"

"I know, I know," Riku muttered. Even his voice was different. Vanitas had swathed Riku in his emotional/darkness magic and turned him into a perfect doppelganger of himself. He just hadn't been anticipating the side effects… of _feeling_ like he was Vanitas. "This is just extremely uncomfortable. I feel like I might start forgetting _who_ I am!"

"Then don't take too long," Vanitas countered. His real-world-self grabbed Demyx by the throat. "That's it – time to go."

"Ready," Riku said tensely.

Vanitas hardly gave Riku enough time to speak. He reached out to the chains that bound Xehanort's two cloned hearts together and created a portal between them. With a burst of magic, he threw Riku through the doorway and along the chain. Riku's heart and consciousness slipped across and landed undetected in the other vessel's heart.

x-x-x

Riku plummeted down, down, down again, through the heart dive that was becoming a commonplace event. Vanitas's heart dive had been infested with monsters – Sora's had been littered with sleeping images of himself. Demyx's was full of… songs. The songs didn't really take clear physical form – they were just swirls of color and light, floating in the vertical tunnel that Riku was falling through. But as Riku came close enough to brush against them, he could briefly hear a few phrases of each song. It was really fascinating. Riku hadn't thought too deeply about the fact that Demyx had a _musical instrument_ as the weapon of his heart. At best, he had guessed that Demyx liked music a lot. It seemed that that assessment had been way off.

Music was _everything_ to Demyx.

As he continued falling, Riku tried to intercept as many of the song orbs as possible, hoping they would somehow give him more insight into his new target. Riku liked music, sure, but he didn't really know anything about any of the theory behind it. Like how someone actually went about writing a song. The music in the orbs were greatly varied – different styles, different speeds, and even different instruments. Riku soon decided that he was getting nowhere trying to understand it. He hoped he understood enough. The portal appeared below him and Riku dropped through.

Riku landed in a small town – or village. The houses were simple and small, and the people were dressed in simple, unremarkable clothes. No sign of Demyx, though. Riku frowned. He could sense no darkness here, and so didn't know where to begin. But just then, someone started playing a song on a stringed instrument, just beyond his sight. Riku jogged toward the sound with confidence.

Sure enough, around the corner in a market square was Demyx. He was performing with three others – two were playing different types of stringed instruments, one was singing, and Demyx was playing something much like his weaponized sitar while crooning out a harmony part to the song. Much to Riku's surprise, Demyx was actually pretty good. _I guess I just expected he just_ wanted _to be a musician… instead of actually_ being _one,_ Riku mused to himself.

The song dragged on, and Riku grew impatient. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He needed to find Xehanort's heart, and quickly. He couldn't sense anything here. In Vanitas's heart, the path had been clear. But here… he needed something more to go on.

Riku stepped forward, approaching the performers. He felt a little bad interrupting like this – he would never have done this in real life – and he had to remind himself that this wasn't real. It was a memory at best – a dream of a memory. "Hey! Hey, you! I need to talk to you!"

Demyx looked up and made eye contact with Riku, and then everything around Riku wobbled and distorted like it was all a reflection in a pool of water and someone had just thrown a large stone into it. The scene changed. All the people were gone, and all the buildings were taller and darker. The sky was darker as well. Was it nighttime or… something less savory? Riku still couldn't sense any darkness here, though.

Demyx was still ahead of Riku, though a little farther away than before. He was talking to his fellow musicians from before. No… he was arguing with them. Riku wandered closer.

"Edym, no. I've already told you!" one of them, with a blue haircut similar to Demyx's, was saying with a think drawl. "We aren't going to the next festival. We're playing at Bernie's tomorrow and then we're taking the rest of the week off."

"Do you want to play at Bernie's the rest of your life? This could be our big break!" Demyx – or was it Edym? – said passionately. "Everybody's who's even half serious will be at the festival!"

"Edym, man, _chill_ ," another one of the musicians said. This one had reddish hair that covered the eyes completely. "The festival will still be there next year. Let's take some more time, write some more songs, and enjoy life a little."

"Enjoy–?! This _is_ my life!" Demyx-Edym snapped. "You told me you were serious about this!"

"Enough drama. We've already decided," the first speaker said again. "We're not going to the festival. Now, are you coming out with us tonight or not?"

"No. No, I'm not." Demyx-Edym looked almost ready to cry, but he shook it off. "If you won't come with me, I'll do it myself."

Blue mullet guy snorted. "As a solo?!"

"Maybe I will!"

"Whatever." Blue mullet guy motioned to his companions and started walking away. "Come find us next week, after you get laughed out of the festival."

"No, I won't," Demyx-Edym whispered fervently, too quietly for the others to hear. "I'll make it on my own if I have to." Then he suddenly looked up and seemed to notice Riku. The scene warped and changed in a water ripple again.

Now it was Demyx-Edym in a bare, square room. The room was empty except for the musician, the sitar, and papers scattered everywhere. Oh, and Riku, too. Demyx-Edym was scrawling notes on one of the pages. Music, probably. Then he looked up at Riku, and the scene transitioned again.

This time, it was the festival Edym had been talking about. Probably. It was nighttime, though the area was lit up by numerous hung lanterns. Riku found himself in the middle of a massive crowd surrounding a stage. Edym was onstage, unsurprisingly. He had apparently found a new group to sing with. Riku struggled to discern details about the other musicians, but it didn't matter. As soon as Edym looked in Riku's direction, the scene splashed and changed again.

This time it was a darkened street alley, and it was just Edym and Riku.

"Why are you following me?!" Edym yelled. There was a fury in his eyes and a confidence that was completely lacking in Demyx's nobody form.

Riku glanced over his shoulder. There was really no one else around. "Uh… are you talking to me?"

"Yes, I'm talking to you! You – you're Vanitas, aren't you?! Why are you pawing through my memories?! Haven't I given _enough_ to your master?!" Edym was gesticulating wildly, but he didn't draw a weapon. As a somebody, he probably hadn't been able to. But now that he was… was he a nobody again?

Riku thought he should make sure. "Were you recompleted?"

"Was I… _what?_ "

"Were you… Did you wake up again as your past self, after your nobody was destroyed?" Riku only got a stare in response, so he tried again. "Do you remember your time as the nobody Demyx?"

Now Edym looked confused, which was a much more familiar expression to see on that face. "Why are you asking me that? What do you want from me?"

Riku hesitated. He knew he had to be very careful how much he shared. But he also was going to need Edym-Demyx's help to pull this off. "Housekeeping. Xehanort's made a big mess of a lot of things. I'm here to help you clean things up."

Now Edym looked outright suspicious. "But didn't you… _attack_ my outer self?"

Riku shrugged. "Sorry – I couldn't just walk up and talk to you. I had to allay suspicion."

"I see…" Edym cocked his head. "But aren't you Xehanort's creation? Why would you want to help me?"

"Because I _hate_ Xehanort. You know this." The words came easily to Riku. They were true enough for him, too, but the essence of Vanitas was overwhelming him again. Riku had to take a moment to force it back down. "Look, Edym… that is your name, right? I'm guessing you didn't join Xehanort of your own choice?"

Edym nodded slowly. "He… said he admired my passion. The strength of my heart. He wanted to turn my drive to his own purposes. But… it wasn't what I wanted." Edym wrapped his arms around himself. "You asked if I remember being Demyx? I do. And it was horrible!

"Do you know what it's like to wake up with a song in your head, and it eats at you because you can't remember how it ends? That's how I felt. Except they were _my_ songs. I recognized them, but… but I couldn't remember how they went. Everything I spent _years_ of my life working towards, _ripped_ away by _that murderous creep!_

"And then Demyx died… or faded away, I guess. Whichever. And I thought that it was done, everything was all over. Except that I woke up again. I had a heart again, and I could feel something again besides fear. And I could hear my songs in my mind again! But then, almost instantly, _he_ was there again…"

Riku nodded, sympathetically. "So, now you're… here? Do you have any control of your body at all?"

"Some," Edym said with a sigh. "It's mostly Demyx again, though." He ran a hand absently through his hair. "We were all regrowing hearts as nobodies – I assume you already know that. And though Demyx's heart should have merged with my heart when we were… recompleted, as you said… Xehanort didn't give us the chance. He jammed his heart into my chest and raised a wall to keep me stuck down… here. So Demyx is mostly doing the driving. And Xehanort can reach in and take direct control whenever he wants." Edym gave Riku a curious look. "Is it the same for you?"

"No. It's… a bit different." Riku wasn't sure how much to say. How much he _could_ say. The instinct to _be_ Vanitas was very strong. He decided to sidestep the question. "How often does Xehanort take direct control?"

"Lately? Not at all. Not since I've given up on fighting and have been trying to occupy myself down here." Edym sagged where he stood. "At least I can work on my songs in peace now…"

"So, you _could_ take back control. If you wanted to. Right?" At Edym's reluctant nod, Riku asked, "Do you think you could take back control and act like Demyx? So Xehanort wouldn't realize that anything had changed?"

"As soon as I try to do anything, Xehanort's avatar in here drags me back down and locks me away. It took me a _week_ to free myself last time!"

Riku's smile grew wide. "But you managed to get free, all by yourself. That's a good sign of the strength of your heart. That's half of what we need to get you free again." He summoned his keyblade into his hand, and hefted it (in what he hoped was a nonthreatening manner). "Now, if you can show me to Xehanort's heart, I can give you a hand with the other half."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku raised his keyblade and summoned the keyhole of Xehanort's heart. And then, as he had done once already before, he sealed the cancerous heart away into sleep. Once again, the ease of it all made him nervous. But the old man's avatar still did not stir after the sound beating Riku had given him. Everything seemed to be complete. Riku raised his keyblade again and summoned another keyhole – this one for the path to let him ascend into the higher level of Edym's heart, where Edym's avatar awaited him. The travel took only a minute, and was perfectly smooth.

"You did it then?" Edym asked. The way he bounced on his feet made him look both excited and nervous.

"Yeah, I did. Everything went just fine," Riku said.

Edym sighed loudly and wrung his hands. "Okay, so now… What does this mean? You said I can't let Xehanort's know anything has changed…"

"Right," Riku confirmed. "If Xehanort's catches on that anything has happened, he can come back in here and undo it."

"So, what advantage does this gain me?"

"A chance to stop him from destroying all the worlds," Riku said grimly. "From what I understand of his plan, he wants to summon the X-Blade, and use it destroy Kingdom Hearts – and by extension, all the worlds that exist. Everything will be swallowed up into darkness. Xehanort says that the worlds were all originally born out of such a calamity. And so, this will just bring a new rebirth to the worlds. But…"

"You think he's just crazy and want to stop him from destroying everything?"

"Right. And besides, even if he is right… He doesn't have the right to just end everybody's lives like that! It's worth it to stop him, at whatever cost."

Edym nodded in agreement. "So, what can I do that will help?"

"Van… er, _I_ found out that he can see the future, but not everything. He has some moments he cannot see beyond. And one of those is where he summons the X-Blade. So the moment _after that_ is when we can surprise him."

Edym flinched. "That… doesn't sound like we have much to work with."

Riku agreed, "Yeah, you're right. But it's all we have. And so, we have to make sure that once the X-Blade appears, _I_ am the one to get it. Not Xehanort." Riku grimaced as he caught himself speaking as Vanitas again. He decided to just go with it. Luckily his face wasn't visible under Vanitas's helmet.

Edym nodded, more slowly. "Okay. So… I play along as the loyal servant until the X-Blade shows up. And then… rip the other seekers apart?"

"We'll see. I'm going to try to free the others. Well… most of them. The ones you'll really want to focus on will be the forms of Xehanort himself."

"Ugh." Edym made a disgusted face. "That guy… those guys… give me the creeps… Well, but if you gotta, you gotta. Okay. Count me in!"

Riku smiled, then remembered it wouldn't show behind his mask. He nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks, Edym. I'd better get back to… my body. I may not be able to talk to you again"

"No problem. Oh, and… I may not be able to take control for a bit. So maybe watch your back for a while, because I think Demyx wants to kill you."

"I understand. Thank you, again." Riku raised his keyblade up, and this time searched mentally for the chains that created a bridge back to Vanitas. The chain was faint, but he managed to find it without too much trouble. Then, just like jumping between worlds, he opened the keyhole and let his heart dive through.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Endnote: I went to a lot of trouble to pick names for all the unnamed somebodies. I know everyone has their own choices and reasons. For Demyx, I went with Edym because it can be a real name. Some baby name site says it is a variation of "Adam." I know a lot of people like the name Myde because of the connection to water, but I decided I couldn't take him seriously if I named him after a turtle._

 _Also, I'm currently replaying 358/2 Days just for fun. I'd forgotten how whiny Demyx is. Lol, poor baby. My take on Demyx is that, as a somebody, he was very passionate, but only about his one dream. He was basically abducted/murdered by Xehanort, so he hates the Organization and everything about it, and so makes it his goal to passive-aggressively resist everything that he is asked to do. I really don't understand why Xehanort would choose to keep someone like Demyx in his organization, but maybe Demyx is super-powerful or something and we just never get to see it. *shrugs*_


	4. Chapter 4

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: I think I've heard there's a new trailer for KH3 out. I'm choosing to not watch it until I've got this story completely posted. This story is already going to be an AU, and I've just got to draw the cut-off line somewhere. So this story will take the June trailers into account, but nothing after that._

 _Happy reading!_

Chapter 4

Kairi suddenly stiffened and stopped in her tracks. Mickey and Sora noticed and paused as well. "What is it, Kairi?" Sora asked.

Kairi clutched at her heart. "Something's here…"

"So, you brought a little princess of heart this time?" a swirl of darkness asked, with Aqua's voice. The darkness swiftly ringed about them, surrounding them.

"Aqua! Show yourself!" Mickey commanded, poised and ready to attack.

"Are we really doing this again, Mickey? I thought you'd learned your lesson the last time. Once the darkness takes root, there is no plucking it back out."

"You're wrong! Riku was possessed by Xehanort's heart, too. And we saved him. So we're going to save you as well," Sora declared with confidence. He had his keyblade in a two-handed grip and was ready and waiting for a sign of where to strike. But the darkness continued to swirl around them in an indistinct form. And the ring was closing in on them.

"She's there," Kairi declared, pointing at a featureless spot in the cloud of darkness. Kairi finally then raised her keyblade and shifted into a fighting stance. "Aqua, please – try to fight it. We're here to help you!"

The darkness did not abate, but the area that Kairi indicated solidified and took the form of the missing keyblade master. Aqua glared down at the trio with unnatural, glowing yellow eyes. "And what if I don't _want_ to be saved?" she asked coldly.

"We know you do," Sora insisted. "Aqua, you were always one of the strongest to resist the darkness. You can do this."

"How could you know such a thing?" Aqua snapped. She lunged forward and slashed at Sora with her keyblade. He was able to parry each strike, but only barely. Mickey and Kairi rushed forward to try to help him. Mickey was able to hold his own, but Kairi was easily knocked aside. Kairi recovered quickly, but then Aqua turned to targeting her, recognizing her as the least combat-experienced of the three.

Sora dove between Aqua and Kairi, facing Aqua. "Aqua, stop this! This isn't you!" Sora felt his heart start burning, like it was going to burst. Trusting his instincts, Sora closed his eyes and willed his heart to do what it would. His eyes snapped open and he changed his stance. "Aqua. Remember what you said when you made us the wayfinders? You said we'd always be friends – we share an unbreakable connection! Fight this, Aqua! Terra and I are still waiting for you."

"V-ven…?" Aqua whispered in confusion, letting the point of her keyblade drop. "How… how did you get _here?"_

"I've been here all along, waiting for you to wake me up," Sora said with Sora's voice, but not with Sora's inflection.

Mickey caught Kairi's eye and nodded. "Now!"

Kairi pointed her keyblade at Aqua and then perfectly synchronized with Mickey, used it to fire a beam of light at Aqua. Aqua shrieked and writhed but was pinned in place by the twin beams of light.

"Now, Sora!" Mickey cried.

Sora started, the blinked slowly. He looked up at Aqua trapped in the light with surprise, as if only just seeing it. But then he recovered and raised his keyblade. "Right!" He reached into his heart and found the unnamed power that let his heart resonate with another heart. A spiky pink link-point appeared before him, and Sora raised his keyblade to unlock it. And then his heart made the jump across the gap and began diving down, down, down into the depths of Aqua's heart.

The dive was a strange one, compared to those Sora had done before to wake the sleeping worlds. Maybe a person's heart was different than a world's? Where worlds showed flashes of objects that belonged to them, Aqua's had different glimpses of people and places – memories perhaps. But there were also heartless – or heartless-like monsters. Sora really couldn't tell the difference but wasn't overly worried about it. They attacked him, he attacked them back. Easy enough. In fact, he was happy to finally have a bit of a challenge. All those stray heartless he had encountered in the various worlds had been hardly worth his time. He hadn't even seen any Organization members in ages. Unlike Riku…

Sora suddenly locked up. He had been trying so hard to avoid thinking about this. But Riku… Riku was…

Sora yelled in frustration as he slashed straight through the next monster, a mostly shapeless thing with yellow eyes. It was unthinkable, it was _unfair_ that the _best_ outcome they could hope for right now was that Riku had _only_ lost his heart. Hadn't Sora already spent enough time _searching_ for Riku and _worrying_ about Riku?

When Sora had first gotten pulled into this whole mess, he'd had to face the unthinkable reality that Riku was no longer Riku. He'd been misled and corrupted by the darkness until he had finally had his heart pushed to the side and replaced by another. Sora had had to fight Ansem in Riku's body, not knowing at the time if it was already too late for Riku or not. And then, when Sora had defeated Ansem and closed the door to Kingdom Hearts… he had really tried to keep up an optimistic front, for Riku and Kairi's sakes. But sealing Riku in the Realm of Darkness, the place where all heartless congregate, had seemed like a death sentence. Sora had tried to do what Riku had asked of him, to go back to Destiny Islands with Kairi... But at the last second, he had pulled back, had stood just a step too far back as Kairi was swept away in the rush of the worlds reforming. He could have reached her, but instead he was paralyzed by the fear that he had just left his other friend to _die_ … and he couldn't just leave him like that. Sora was only going to go home with _both_ his friends. No matter how often they got kidnapped or brainwashed or whatever.

And then Sora had spent _months_ trying to find Riku again – both before and after his long nap. Wondering if Riku and King Mickey had made it out of the Realm of Darkness. Wondering if Riku was safe. Grasping at the tiniest hints that Riku was still out there, looking out for him. Sora was still more than a little mad that Riku had been hiding from him. Who cared if he had the wrong face? Riku was still Riku. As long as his heart was right, it didn't matter to Sora or Kairi how he looked on the outside.

But now they had lost Riku _again_. And this was more frightening than his body being possessed, his heart and mind just being temporarily shoved aside. Riku was _gone_ , one way or the other. If Xehanort had unlocked his heart… well, Sora knew what happened then. His heart would become a heartless, and his body would become a nobody. If both were destroyed, then Riku would come back. Axel-now-Lea had gone through that exact process.

But what if the situation weren't that simple? What if Xehanort decided to claim Riku's nobody as another vessel? Or even his heartless as yet another? Or what if Xehanort spitefully split up the two halves and hid them in different worlds, where Sora could never find them? What then?

Well, Sora was just going to keep trying. He had his friends – Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and now even Lea – who would help him in his search. And maybe there was some way to track Riku by his heart, to get some sort of guidance.

But there was still the possibility that Riku was really just dead. Sora kept trying and trying to avoid thinking of this possibility. But now he was starting to wonder… what happened to the hearts of those who died? If you could find the heart, somehow, could you then bring the person back…?

The crimson transition portal swirled around Sora, cutting off his train of thought. He exited the dive.

Sora landed in a crouch and took in his surroundings. "Wait, isn't this…?" White walls, white floors, with occasional white pillars with white floral shapes. Castle Oblivion.

"Look out!"

Sora ducked and rolled forward. He heard a clank on the ground behind him. He righted himself and spun around, this time ready to block the strike aimed at his face. The geezerly Xehanort sneered at him, then prepared to cast a spell. But he was knocked aside by Aqua who clobbered him with a combo strike.

Sora joined in to aid Aqua. Maybe Xehanort was too strong for Sora or Aqua alone, but with the two combined against him, he didn't stand a chance. Aqua and Sora alternated striking at him to disrupt his spell casting, then took turns casting healing spells at each other as needed. It wasn't an easy fight, but the two heroes kept at it and wore him down. Aqua got the last blow, another combo strike that rendered Xehanort unconscious.

Aqua watched Xehanort warily for a moment, then held her keyblade straight out in front of her. A beam of light shot from it, completely vaporizing Xehanort's body. Aqua then slowly straightened out of her fighting stance and turned back to face Sora. "Thanks for your help. Whoever you are."

Sora grinned widely, crossing his arms behind his neck. "You're welcome! And I'm Sora."

"Sora…" Aqua said thoughtfully, studying him closely. "Have we… met before?"

"I don't know," Sora replied with a nonchalant shrug. "But we've met now! So now we can be friends."

Aqua chuckled. "Just like that? Well, okay then. We're friends." She half-frowned. "It's odd… but you remind me of someone I know…"

"Oh, you must mean Ven! Yeah, his heart's inside of mine."

"What? _How?!_ "

"I'll explain it all later. For right now, we need to hurry out of here!"

x-x-x

Mickey and Kairi had already released the spears of light keeping Aqua pinned in place, and were anxiously watching Sora to see him pop back awake. Kairi helped him back to his feet. "How's Aqua?" she asked.

"She's all right, I think. She should be awake in just a minute."

Kairi gasped, and then Sora and Mickey noticed the dark corridors opening in a ring around them.

"Organization Thirteen! I suspected they might come," Mickey said. "Sora, Kairi – grab onto Aqua!" The mouse king laid a hand on Sora's arm, then withdrew a star-shaped stone from inside his black coat.

The star shard immediately burst into life, whisking the quartet away in a streak of brilliant light before the black hooded figures could draw any closer.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"I had honestly thought to never again set foot in this place. And I was not sad about the prospect."

"We get it, Ienzo, we get it," grumbled Dilan. "None of us want to be here either."

The group stood just outside the doors of Castle Oblivion. Everybody was eyeing the structure with uniform looks of disgust. No one had good memories of the place. Even Donald and Goofy, who technically didn't _have_ their memories of the place.

"What exactly is it that we here to search for?" Aeleus asked, all business like.

"So… you remember that chamber that Xemnas was always searching for?" Lea said reluctantly.

All three of their new companions turned and glared at him. "You dragged us here for _that_ wild goose chase?!" Dilan snapped.

"We searched the castle. All of us. From top to bottom," Ienzo enumerated coldly. "How are we to succeed this time when we could not before? And with many fewer persons this time to aid in the search, besides?"

"Yeah, but this time, we have this!" Lea dramatically summoned his keyblade. "I've got more info on the Chamber of Waking this time, too. This castle is designed to _protect_ the chamber so that not just anyone can access it. Xemnas and a bunch of nobodies are _exactly_ the kind of people it's meant to keep out. Got it memorized?"

"Will you please stop it with that stupid catchphrase?" Dilan groaned, rubbing his face. "It's bad enough with you fancying yourself another keyblade hero…"

"Look, the keyblade doesn't lie! You have to be _worthy_ to get one!"

"Xehanort has one too, doesn't he?" Ienzo observed.

"Well…" Lea didn't know how to answer that one.

Donald finally spoke up. "It obviously means that Xehanort was once worthy himself!"

"Yeah!" Lea recovered quickly. "What he said!"

"What did he say…?"

"Never mind, guys, let's just go." Lea gestured up to the front door. "Donald, Goofy, and I already searched most of the castle. But we found a place we couldn't get through. We were hoping you guys could help us out, okay…?"

Aeleus nodded. "Of course." He started forward.

Dilan sighed loudly. "Fine. Since we're already here."

Ienzo just gave Lea a studying look as he passed him into the castle. The look made Lea's skin crawl.

"I still hate this idea," Lea muttered under his breath after Donald and Goofy headed back in. Then he rushed inside and hurried up to the front of the group to give directions.

x-x-x

Lea quickly led his team back to the spot where he had been stymied by the stuck door. With only a grunt of acknowledgment, Aeleus strode forward, rammed it with his shoulder, and it immediately popped open.

"Thank you," Lea said with some embarrassment. "So, um… now it's all new territory. I don't know what to expect."

"Will there be heartless?" Dilan wanted to know.

Lea shrugged. "Probably? It would all be too easy otherwise…"

"Where should we head next, then?" Ienzo inquired. "To the basement? To the top floor?"

"Neither," Lea declared. "See, this whole castle was created to protect the Chamber of Waking. Or rather, whatever place it was before was _rearranged_ to protect it. So I think the Chamber of Waking will be in the _exact center."_

"Oh, gawrsh," Goofy said slowly. "That does make sense."

The ex-apprentices – well, mostly Dilan and Ienzo – exchanged a look, then decided to not argue with Lea's logic.

"We should split up," Donald declared. "That will save us time."

Lea, Goofy, and Dilan agreed with that, but Aeleus was firmly against it. "You say this place might be dangerous. And that only Lea will be able to open the Chamber once we find it. And how will we communicate with each other once separated? Splitting up will only waste us time, in the end."

Donald squawked at being overridden, but the rest of the group agreed it sounded reasonable. With Lea taking the lead, and the other ex-Organization members offering navigation suggestions, they started making their way further into the building.

x-x-x

"I told you, we're going around in circles!" Donald squawked.

"Huh," Lea said, studying the burn mark he'd left on the wall several minutes previous. "I don't understand; this doesn't make any sense…"

"You can't go any further because _I_ won't let you," a new voice said.

All the group spun around in unison. "Riku!" Donald and Lea gasped, but Lea studied the odd, dark outfit the silver-haired boy wore and made the connection. "No… you're not Riku. You're his replica."

"That's right," the replica said bitterly. "I'm just the _fake!"_ He summoned his copy of the jagged sword, Soul Eater. "And I've been set by Master Xehanort to destroy any intruders."

"Wait, wait!" Lea tried to appeal. "You don't have to follow Xehanort's orders. We can help you! You want to be your own person, right…?"

"It's too late for that!" snapped the replica. He then charged forward and slashed at Lea. The replica was fast and strong, but Lea had the added experience of having trained some with Master Riku. He knew many of his favorite moves. Lea blocked all of the replica's strikes handily.

The replica seemed to realize fairly quickly that he couldn't prevail in this battle and withdrew a few paces.

Lea tried again. "Please, let us help! Look – I'm sorry about before. We all are."

"I told you, it's too late for the replica. Xehanort destroyed him when he realized he couldn't get him to obey. That's why he created us."

"Us?" Dilan parroted. He turned to look back the way they had come, and two more Riku replicas stood, blocking the doorway.

"Xehanort shattered the replica's heart, and gave a piece to each of us," another replica said, followed by two more who came in through the doorway ahead.

"If we destroy all the intruders, then Master Xehanort will give each of us a full heart," yet another replica said, coming in from behind.

"What?! Are you – you all – crazy?! Xehanort will _never_ give you anything!" Lea snapped. He dropped into a fighting stance, his keyblade at the ready. "On the other hand, it seems to me that if we destroy all you extras, you'll end up as _one_ replica with a _full_ heart."

"You can try," said another replica. The heroes were now fully surrounded by a ring of replicas – a full thirteen. Then all at once, the replicas attacked.

Lea sprang immediately into action. Donald started blasting magic spells, and Goofy charged with his shield. Dilan and Aeleus summoned their weapons and began attacking as well. But Ienzo… did nothing. He only attempted to dodge and shield himself from blows with his arms.

Lea turned to see just as Ienzo dropped to the floor – hopefully just dodging and not hurt – and only then realized in horror that he had never confirmed that Ienzo and the others could still summon their weapons. He had just _assumed_ that since he still could… Lea dashed over and kicked aside a Riku before it could land a serious blow on Ienzo.

But the Riku army seemed to zone in on this weak point and all began targeting Ienzo together.

"We've got to get out of here!" Dilan bellowed. He blasted a series of lances at the Rikus, then grunted and shakily opened a dark corridor.

"Are you crazy?! You're not shielded against the darkness!" Lea yelped. His keyblade got knocked from his hand. He gave up and summoned his pair of chakrams instead. Despite his training, he was still faster with his familiar weapon. One of the Rikus finally tumbled to the floor and vanished into a wisp of smoke. But meanwhile, Ienzo had stopped moving…

"Better than dying here with you!" Dilan countered, trying to clear a path to reach Ienzo. The Rikus were swarming him.

Logic warred with emotion in Lea… and he decided Dilan was right. There were getting overwhelmed – was that _more_ Rikus coming in the door?! – and he didn't want Ienzo's death on his hands. Again. Lea threw the chakrams at Rikus, grabbed Ienzo, and made a stumbling run toward Dilan. Dilan snatched Ienzo from Lea's hands and dove into the dark corridor without hesitation. Aeleus paused briefly to look back before stepping through himself.

Donald squawked in concern. Lea grabbed the duck and tossed him into the portal of darkness. "Come on, Goofy! Let's go!" Goofy obediently followed and he and Lea rushed through the portal as well just as it was starting to flicker closed.

x-x-x

Lea was concerned for the others as he ran through the dark corridor. He still had his black coat, and Donald and Goofy were presumably similarly shielded. Hopefully, anyway. But the other three had gone back to ordinary clothes, and they had just barely gotten their hearts back…

Before Lea could brood any longer, they came to the other end of the short tunnel and emerged back into the real world. Lea turned quickly to determine their location. "We're… just outside the castle."

"And we're not going back in! I can't believe we trusted you in the first place! Once a double-crosser, always a double-crosser…!"

Lea tuned out Dilan as he continued to rant. "How is Ienzo?" he asked Aeleus, anxiously.

"I believe he is coming to," Aeleus replied, his voice dispassionate.

"Don't you lay a finger on him!" Dilan snarled, shoving a lance in Lea's face. "Haven't you done enough already?!"

"Stop it! Just for a second! Let. Me. Talk," Lea snarled back at Dilan. The other man gave him a furious glare, but silenced. "I screwed up, okay? This mission wasn't supposed to be this dangerous. I didn't want any of you to get hurt."

"We're not going back in—" Dilan started to demand.

Lea cut him off. "You're right. We're not. We're not equipped to deal with that… army of Rikus." Lea crossed his arms tightly around himself. He checked again on Ienzo and met his unfocused gaze. Then he continued addressing the group. "The plan now is we go back to see Yen Sid and report on what we found. We'll make sure Ienzo is okay, and we'll get you some permanent lodging until it's safe to go back to Radiant Garden." Then, just to Ienzo, Lea said, "I'm really sorry. I should have asked to make sure you were able to fight. I just assumed, and I shouldn't have."

"I… I should have said something. I… haven't been able to summon my lexicon since I was recompleted. I thought it would come back to me if the need was real…" Ienzo's voice was weak and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

Lea cast a quick cure spell. "Sorry, I'm still bad at healing magic. Just hang in there, okay? You're going to be fine…"

Ienzo laughed weakly. "Were you always this… motherly with Roxas? No wonder he liked you so much…"

"Uh, guys? The castle door is opening," Goofy said.

All discussion abruptly ended. Aeleus scooped up Ienzo in his arms. Lea similarly grabbed Donald, ignoring the duck's furious cursing. They all made a mad dash down the incline to where the gummi ship lay waiting for them.

"Put me down, you overgrown thug!" Donald squawked, feathers flying as he flailed about. "I don't need to be carried! Just wait 'til his majesty hears about this!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku was still in the middle of recapping his success with Demyx/Edym when the sky flashed like a massive bolt of lightning had bisected it. Then the darkened Traverse Town split in half and reformed into a world that was painfully bright by contrast. All Riku could make out at first was the whiteness of it. As his vision cleared, he recognized the place as a portion of the castle in the Worlds that Never Was. The massive chamber with thirteen white thrones. "What just happened?" he asked Vanitas, changing subject midsentence.

"Xehanort's calling us. Maybe your new buddy tipped him off to us," Vanitas snarled, turning away from Riku to scowl at a wall.

The real-world Vanitas immediately sprang into motion, moving to the location Xehanort had specified. Riku was starting to get attuned enough to Vanitas that he didn't need to be explicitly shown what the other boy could see in order to know what was going on in the outside world. Riku still couldn't see anything, yet, but he could sense Vanitas's running, and the exertion of his heart.

But the improved sensitivity wasn't enough, especially given the circumstances. Riku was dreading the possible scenarios that could unfold if Xehanort had begun to suspect Vanitas. But he didn't want to wait in here, blind to what was unfolding. Riku purposely approached Vanitas and grabbed his shoulder. "Let me see and hear what's going on."

Vanitas knocked aside Riku's arm with as much force as he could muster. "It's too risky. What if he suspects something?"

"Exactly. If I know what's going on, I might be able to help you deflect his questions."

Vanitas laughed. "You mean, you'll help me lie to Xehanort? You're a terrible liar, Riku."

"So are you," Riku countered with a shrug. He ignored how Vanitas's body posture tensed to attack. "I know you're still the one in control here. But remember that _my_ life is on the line, too. I have _every_ reason to do whatever I can to make sure you succeed."

Vanitas leapt at him anyway and tackled Riku into the floor. "Don't. Touch. Me. Again," he snarled, slamming Riku's shoulders against the floor again for further emphasis.

With his own armor and helmet on, Vanitas's violent outburst didn't faze Riku much. But he decided he'd better not push his luck further. He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Vanitas growled back at him, managing to sound almost feral. Then he summoned his keyblade and jammed it into Riku's helmet, right between the eyes. There was a flash of light, and Riku's head knocked against the floor again. "There," Vanitas said, and he got up and stalked away.

Riku found his vision blurry, but after only a few minutes, he discovered that he was actually seeing two similar scenes, simultaneously. With effort, he could bring one or the other in focus. In both scenes, he stood alone in the white throne room, but he quickly determined that in one scene he could not control his own actions. This must be the real world. Riku continued practicing switching between the two views while he waited for someone else to arrive.

After only a few moments more, other black-coated figures began to appear: some entering by the hidden door, like Vanitas; others teleporting directly to their chairs by dark portals. When Vanitas finally decided to hop up into his chair, Riku got a glimpse of black sleeves and determined that Vanitas must be attired like the others, hood and all. While still in the real-world viewing space, Riku decided to test if Vanitas could hear him, and so asked about the coats.

(The full costume is required for all meetings in this room,) Vanitas's disembodied mental voice responded.

(Xehanort likes being dramatic,) Riku observed with some amusement.

Vanitas snorted in response. (Yeah, he does.) Then he added, (Don't talk to me unless you've got something important to say.)

(Got it,) Riku smirked to himself.

Time passed. The other seats filled. The topmost throne remained empty. Riku would have preferred to continue studying the other seekers of darkness, but his view was limited to what Vanitas chose to look at. And Vanitas had chosen to stare down at the floor.

But then the quiet whoosh of a dark portal echoed through the silent chamber. Vanitas's attention snapped to the center throne. All the other seekers were facing it as well. Xehanort appeared from the darkness in his seat. And he was frowning.

Riku felt an unnerving crawling of his skin. After a moment he realized he was feeling Vanitas's fear. (You're not alone,) Riku whispered to his host.

Vanitas mentally hissed back. But the feeling of overwhelming dread eased somewhat.

At least until Xehanort boomed out at all of them. "You have disappointed me." Then Vanitas's terror returned twofold.

"They were not supposed to find her," Xehanort continued. "They were especially _not_ supposed to free her. Saïx, _explain how you managed to fail so miserably._ "

 _Her? Does he mean Aqua?_ Riku thought to himself. He felt hope blossoming in his heart. _If they managed to free her, then that means this was_ another _blank spot in his visions of the future! Master Aqua will be a_ great _ally against Xehanort!_

Meanwhile, Saïx was offering his excuses. It sounded like Aqua had kept managing to evade everyone who was trying to guard her. And then "the king and the others" had found Aqua before the seekers could locate her again, and had utilized some magical object that let them escape from the Realm of Darkness instantaneously. Riku had no idea what that object could be. Clearly, neither did Saïx. But Xehanort seemed to know what it was, as he grudgingly accepted the explanation.

"This is not ideal, but enough of our pawns are still in place," Xehanort mused to himself. "Kingdom Hearts tries to surprise me, but it will not be enough. We _will_ succeed. I have _seen_ it. Once the X-Blade appears, there is _nothing_ that can prevent the Keyblade War from taking place."

(He's rambling to himself again,) Vanitas spoke up in the mental space. (He does this a lot. Usually he makes a lot less sense. Especially when he's talking to his past self.)

(Is he… is he even sane?) Riku asked.

(The guy wants to destroy all of existence just to see what happens – of course he's not sane! But the most dangerous part… is that he still _thinks_ he is.)

Xehanort stared at Saïx a long time, in silence. Finally, he said, "I cannot see clearly enough to see if you remain by my side at the moment of the war. But you have proved useful to me before. So I will not destroy you for this one failure."

Saïx bowed deeply. "Thank you, master."

"Give your full attention now to your secondary assignment, Saïx. And be sure not to disappoint me again."

"Yes, master," Saïx replied.

Xehanort turned his attention back to the rest of the seekers. "Are there any other matters to report?"

Two more seekers took their turns to give vague and mostly positive reports. The language was so vague that Riku couldn't even form a guess as to what they were talking about. Xehanort accepted the reports without much interest. Whatever they referred to were, perhaps, just other backup plans. Items of lesser concern.

The room fell silent again. Xehanort looked around at each of them individually. "Anything else? Have you fallen asleep? You're all so quiet today," he said mockingly. "Come now – don't waste my time by making me call another meeting later. Is there really _nothing_ else you know of that might comprise a risk to our plans?"

Slowly, reluctantly, one figure raised his hand. "Um, Vanitas nearly killed me," Demyx said in a small voice. "And he was beating up everyone else, too. I… I think he shouldn't be allowed to do that."

"Vanitas…" Xehanort hissed, throwing the full weight of his gaze on the boy. "I am _out_ of patience with you! I have plenty of options for new servants who won't _defy me_ at every turn." Xehanort summoned his keyblade, a jagged piece of metal with an eerie eye embedded in it.

Vanitas had frozen in terror. (He knows, he knows!) his mental voice was repeating over and over.

(No he doesn't!) Riku countered, frantically. (Tell him you were just testing your new power! Tell him you needed to be sure you'd be strong enough to beat Sora and his allies!)

"I… I was just doing what you told… told me to do!" Vanitas stammered out. He held his arms out in front of himself defensively. "I had to make sure it had worked! That I had really absorbed Riku's power! How else could I know?!"

Xehanort frowned, but relaxed the angle on his keyblade slightly. "But targeting Demyx? We've already discussed this."

(What did you–? No, never mind.) Riku resolved to ask Vanitas about his history with Demyx later. (Tell him that you think Demyx is a weakling and you just wanted to train him. You were trying to get him stronger,) Riku suggested.

"He… He's the weakest link here! He always has been! I was just… just trying to get him stronger. It worked with Ventus, right? He got stronger by my helping him. I'm just trying to… trying to help your plan. I don't want to die…" Vanitas hunkered down in his chair.

Xehanort continued glaring at Vanitas a long moment, in silence. At last, he spoke. "I know you well, Vanitas. I've known you for your entire life. And you have _always_ been _terrible_ at deception."

Vanitas mentally dissolved into panic again, so Riku yelled at him, (Stay calm! Stay calm! Don't tell him anything else!)

Xehanort continued his unrelenting stare in silence for a few moments longer. Then he sighed. "So, as _idiotic_ as an excuse as that is… you must really believe it to be true. So now, let me make things clear to you, Vanitas. You are now to do _nothing_ without explicit orders. _Especially_ not attempting to "train" my other vessels. You will join me to fight in the Keyblade War, and nothing more. Is that clear?"

"But… what am I supposed to do until then? Just sit in my room?!" Vanitas snapped back out of reflex.

"Yes, that would be ideal," Xehanort agreed with a hard look and a cruel smile. "Unless that would be too _difficult_ for you."

(Don't say anything else,) Riku begged. (Don't tell him you intend to ignore him! Just accept it and play the good vessel. Please!)

(Shut up!) Vanitas told Riku mentally. In the real world, he inclined his head. With difficulty, he grit out, "I… I will do my best. Master Xehanort."

"Good." Xehanort sounded amused. He banished his keyblade back to empty space. "Now – I won't ask again. Is there _anything_ else that needs to be addressed?" he asked loudly of the room.

No one spoke up. Riku couldn't blame them. He was almost holding his breath himself, as he was certain all the seekers of darkness were. Just waiting for Xehanort to leave.

At last, Xehanort decided he had waited long enough and started summoning a dark corridor. "Don't disappoint me. Our time is close at hand. Very close." And with that, he disappeared into the oval hole of darkness.

The other seekers started leaving the instant Xehanort was gone. Dark portals erupted from the chairs and swallowed the occupants. Demyx studied Vanitas for a moment, then shook his head and left by dark corridor as well. At last, Vanitas was the last one left. He hopped off his chair and headed for the door.

(Aren't you going to travel by dark corridor like everyone else?) Riku asked him.

(Don't tell me what to do! I feel like walking, okay?!) Vanitas yelled at him mentally.

(Okay, okay. Do what you like.) Riku switched his view back to Vanitas's heart world. It had recovered from Xehanort's summons and was back to the shadowy version of Traverse Town. Riku quickly located Vanitas slouching against a wall. "Are you ready to work on our next plan?"

"Leave me alone!" Vanitas shrieked at Riku. With a scream, he summoned a massive monster and hurled it at Riku. Riku had to summon his keyblade and fight for several minutes to get rid of the red-eyed, wolf-like thing. By the time the monster was defeated, Vanitas was long gone. Riku slumped against a wall to catch his breath. Then he closed his eyes and tried to find the equivalent of sleep in this strange place.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Endnote: I'm so mean to the Riku replica, haha. Anyway, this is what Xehanort wanted Even for. After all, if you can make one replica, why not a dozen or more? But anyway, I've always had mixed feelings about the Riku replica. I mean, it seems like the KH universe would treat him as his own person… except he's still just a derivative of Riku. He has a copy of Riku's memories, courtesy of Naminé. And he looks exactly like Riku did, at the time. In the new trailers, he looks_ exactly _the same as he did before – leading me to theorize that replicas don't age. So he's an immortal, unchanging, knock-off of Riku. It seems hard to imagine him having much of a real life. Maybe I just have a hard time sympathizing with him… I guess he's pretty much in the same boat as Pinocchio? Maybe they should be friends._

 _And my dear buddy, Vanitas… I've had such fun writing him. He and Riku make such a fun pair to write dialogue for. Vanitas keeps trying to get a rise out of Riku, and Riku is way too patient to take the bait. I figure Riku learned a lot from dealing with Sora. Sora wouldn't try to make Riku angry, of course – but I can see him trying to goad Riku into specific reactions, and Riku learning how to not react, just to tease Sora back. Now that I think about it, I guess it makes sense that Vanitas would have some similarities to Sora's personality… but I wasn't thinking about this at the time I wrote this._


	5. Chapter 5

**Afterdeath**

Chapter 5

Lea groaned and buried his face in his hands. "So my whole trip to Castle Oblivion was pointless. Only Aqua… er, I mean, _Master_ Aqua… can even reach the room where Ventus and the special keyblade are."

"Just Aqua is fine," Aqua said. "And you shouldn't be kicking yourself. The defense mechanism of the Land of Departure was _meant_ to be secret. Master Eraqus trusted it to no one but himself. He told me only as a last resort." She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, one of several identical wooden antiques that Yen Sid had produced in his study. She was doing her best to pretend she was fully recovered, but she could actually barely stand unassisted.

"And don't forget, Lea, that you've brought back some good intel," Mickey spoke up brightly, perched on a chair of his own that had legs conspicuously taller than the others. "Otherwise, we wouldn't know we'll have to face a bunch of new instances of the replicas."

"That _will_ complicate things," Aqua mused sourly. "And how many did you say there were?"

"Hundreds!" Lea declared.

"A dozen," Dilan countered.

"That was more than a dozen! I counted!"

"We couldn't have walked in the room if there were hundreds. It was no more than _two_ dozen _at most._ "

"Gentlemen, _please_ let us try to stay focused." Yen Sid quelled the argument with a piercing look. "Let us return to the more pressing matters. First, is how Xehanort knew to send his vessels after Aqua at the _exact_ moment she was freed."

The room fell to silence. Dilan and Aeleus looked at each other, feeling superfluous. Donald and Goofy just sat, waiting for the conversation to move on to something they could contribute to. Kairi was thinking hard, wanting to contribute something but not having enough experience with the ways of darkness and light to even make a guess.

Finally, Sora made a suggestion. "He put a copy of his heart in her, right? Xehanort, I mean. Like he… like he wanted to do with me." As he got a confirming nod from Yen Sid, Sora continued, "Could he sense that something had happened to that copy? Aqua and I destroyed that heart copy inside her heart. He seems… he seems to have some pull over his other vessels. And I remember one of them said something about a certain symbol letting him track me…"

"That seems the most likely," Yen Sid agreed. "Unfortunately, I know little of the workings of such arts. They are deeply evil and rightfully forbidden. But it seems to make the most sense that Xehanort has some sort of hold over each of his current vessels. And it is likely he can track their locations as well."

"I don't remember him tracking me, though," Aqua mused. "I just remember… he came and planted a seed of hopelessness within me. It grew so fast! But it was so hard in the Realm of Darkness…"

"It's all right, Aqua." Kairi placed a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder. "Take your time remembering."

"But they kept finding me, somehow," Aqua continued, talking primarily to herself. "I kept trying to avoid them – I _hated_ them, blots of darkness all! But they _kept finding me_. You must be right." Her eyes widened in realization. "I never thought of it before, but they must have been tracking me to keep finding me…"

"Sounds confirmed to me, then," Mickey said. "So that's how they knew to come after Aqua. And I'd bet there's similar tracking on the replicas, too."

"An early warning system," Yen Sid mused, nodding. "To warn Xehanort if we are getting close to reviving Ventus."

"Would you mind explaining who this Ventus guy is?" Dilan demanded.

"Perhaps it is information we do not need to be privy to," Aeleus corrected. "We understand the need for keeping secrets, do we not?"

Dilan grunted in acknowledgment to his companion. "Right. Well, in that case, can we go check up on Ienzo? We don't want to be involved in this unless we have to."

"You may check up on your companion now if you wish," Yen Sid said. "But unfortunately, you are already deeply involved. Xehanort will have his eye on you, wherever you go. The only question now is: how much do you wish to help fight back?"

"Ventus isn't really that big a secret now," Mickey added. "Since Xehanort already knows everything about him anyway."

"So, what's the short version of why he's so important?" Dilan demanded again.

"He's my friend… one of the three of us who were the last to train under Master Eraqus." Aqua tried to adjust her position in her chair again to sit more upright and look stronger. "Xehanort wanted all three of us – as vessels probably – from the start. He's… he still has Terra."

"I was told he was a failed experiment to summon the X-Blade," Lea interrupted. "He and Vanitas were supposed to be the light and darkness needed to summon it."

"The keyblade? What's so special about another keyblade?" Dilan arched an eyebrow.

"Not keyblade. _Chi._ Like, another way to pronounce the letter 'X.' It's something special," Lea fumbled, not able to remember the full explanation himself. "But basically, it will let Xehanort unlock Kingdom Hearts itself and destroy all the worlds."

Dilan's face twisted in shock. "So why are we waking this guy up again?! We shouldn't give Xehanort any tools to let him destroy the worlds!"

"Ventus can no longer perform his intended purpose," Yen Sid declared. "And besides, the fusion of Ventus and Vanitas was never the only way. Xehanort has other plans, and he will attempt to complete them. Meanwhile, we need to seek all potential allies we can."

The door to Yen Sid's study slowly opened. All eyes went to the door. No one else was expected to show up.

Ienzo slowly entered the room, limping a bit. His face was also a bit too pale. But he spoke with confidence. "I'm sorry for interrupting your meeting. But I think I've come up with something important."

"Not at all. Please take a seat." Yen Sid waved an arm and another chair grew up out of the floor directly behind Ienzo.

He sat down, carefully, then met Yen Sid's gaze with his own. "I think I know the key to defeating the replicas. Well… defeating them more quickly, anyway. I'm sure Lea's brute force method would work eventually."

Lea buried his face in his hands again. "I _told_ you, I'm really sorry about that…"

Ienzo waited until Yen Sid motioned him to go on, and then continued. "The replicas… whether they were created from the original one, or whether they were newly created from Vexen's data… it makes no difference. They still share a common flaw. I know that Master Riku has progressed rapidly in his mastery of light and dark, but the original data Vexen used to make the replica was taken from Riku before he had made most of this progress."

"I'm… not following. Can you explain it simpler, Ienzo?" Dilan said, scratching his head.

Ienzo scowled. "I'm _getting_ there." He returned his neutral face to Yen Sid. "When I, as Zexion, confronted Riku in Castle Oblivion, I attempted to exploit that weakness, with much success. If not for… outside interference, I think I would have succeeded." Ienzo paused. "Of course, it is best that I did not succeed then, but I believe it will give us the means to succeed now."

"I'm still not understanding you," Dilan complained.

"Light!" Mickey declared, smacking a fist into his other palm. "Back at the start in Castle Oblivion, Riku was so steeped in darkness still that it made him vulnerable to light!"

"Exactly!" Ienzo agreed, clearly pleased. "So we can easily defeat the replicas, no matter how many of them there are, so long as we bring those with us who can harness the power of light."

"Us?" Aeleus gave Ienzo a sharp look. "I don't think it wise for you to go back there again."

"I made an error in reasoning," Ienzo said, frowning. "I expected my power to behave the same as it had as a nobody. Yours and Dilan's remained the same, after all. But mine did not. And I have discovered why." Ienzo held out a hand, and with visible exertion, made his magical tome appear there, hovering just above his hand. Dilan and Aeleus made noises of protest, and Ienzo let them book vanish again almost immediately. The wear on Ienzo was blatant – sweat was trickling down his pale face. "You see? I have it figured out now… my source now is the light, not the dark…"

Aeleus leapt from his own chair and hurried to hold up Ienzo, who was slumping in his seat and quickly losing consciousness. "You didn't have to demonstrate to make your point, Ienzo. We would have believed you."

"Perhaps it would be best to take a short break. And see Ienzo back to bed," Yen Sid declared, looking on the unconscious young man with his studying, inscrutable gaze. "If he is so determined to help us fight for the light, I do not want to deny him. But he ought to be fully recovered first."

And that was the signal that the meeting was adjourned for the moment. Dilan and Aeleus were out the door first, carrying Ienzo between them. Lea almost went with them, but hesitated, and instead let Mickey and his two animal companions precede him out the door. Sora and Kairi went to help Aqua stand and walk out. Lea watched this procedure a moment, again wanting to help but not feeling confident enough to do so. Lea left by himself then, to go in search of a quiet corner to brood in until Yen Sid was ready to discuss the next piece of plan.

x-x-x

The call to reassemble came so much later in the day that Lea had given up waiting and had wandered off to Twilight Town, ostensibly to spend the night. The reality was he went to brood more, of course. Ienzo getting hurt was _really_ eating at him. Yeah, he knew Ienzo would recover and be fine. But Lea just couldn't get over it. He hadn't wanted to confront the young man again in the first place, considering _his_ nobody was directly responsible for the other nobody's death. And then Ienzo had agreed to go along with Lea's hairbrained plan of charging through the castle, barely prepared. And had nearly died again at the hands of a Riku replica. Again. Lea figured, if it had been him, he would be having nightmares about this forever.

As it was, maybe Lea _would_ have nightmares about this. So far, he was showing a consistent track record of failing to protect the people he cared about. Isa, Xion, Roxas… he had promised to protect all of them, and had instead lost all of them. He was going to get them back – he definitely wasn't going to give up. But after the near-disaster at Castle Oblivion, Lea had very little faith in his ability to do it himself. More likely he was just going to mess everything up again. But at least Sora had also promised he was going to help all his friends – Sora didn't give up and Sora kept his promises. All Lea had to do was stick close to Sora and try to not get in his way…

Was he really good enough to be a keyblade wielder? Yeah, the keyblade had chosen him. He'd thought that had been a vote of confidence in him. _But Xehanort has a keyblade, too…_ Lea just didn't know what to think anymore. In spite of all his training, his skill with the keyblade was shaky at best. He still summoned his chakrams instead of the blade more often than not. Maybe he should just go back to using his familiar weapon in battles? Except that the keyblade _meant something._ You had to be _worthy_ to have one. And in this battlefield, the heroes were the ones with keyblades. And Lea badly, badly wanted to be a hero this time around.

This was the point where he noticed he was being summoned back. Yen Sid had given them all little crystal balls that fit conveniently inside a pocket. The crystals could supposedly be used to contact anyone else on their team, if the user had enough skill with magic. Lea didn't. Yet, anyway. But Yen Sid could use the crystals to reach out to all of them at once – a clear sign of the old man's power. Sometimes he actually spoke through them, but this time he just made the crystal buzz and glow slightly. Just enough to get everyone's attention… if they weren't already asleep. Lea was briefly tempted to pretend he hadn't noticed the summons and actually go to bed… except he realized that he was too wound up now to sleep. And if he wasn't going to get to sleep for real, he may as well go back to the meeting. So Lea went.

Lea was the last one back. Apparently he was noticeably slow, because Sora greeted him by exclaiming, "Lea! You came back!"

"Yeah, yeah." Lea faked a yawn. "I wasn't asleep yet. So, what did I miss?"

"We already beat Xehanort while you were napping," Kairi said with a grin. "We're just planning our victory party now."

Lea smirked back at her. "Well, awfully nice of you to wait for me to plan the party." Lea reluctantly, cautiously took a seat near Dilan and Aeleus and proceeded to pretend they weren't there. They did likewise for him.

"Yep!" agreed Sora, folding his arms behind his head. "And since you're late, you're buying ice cream for everyone!"

"I really don't think this is the time for such silliness," Aqua said coolly, with a glare mostly directed at Lea.

"We don't have _time_ for anything. And yet we simultaneously have all the time in the world," Merlin said cheerfully.

"Uh… does that mean we have a plan?" Sora asked.

"Indeed," said Yen Sid, mustering a small smile himself. "I apologize for the long delay. But I needed to enlist the help of my good friend," Yen Sid gestured here to Merlin, "to attempt a… dangerous course of action. But I am pleased to inform you all that we were successful."

"Gosh!" exclaimed Mickey. "That's good to hear! But I thought, uh you said… you didn't want to 'lower yourself to Xehanort's level' by doing _that_."

Yen Sid looked grim again. "I have reconsidered. In light of what happened during Sora's mastery exam, we cannot afford not to explore all avenues open to us."

Everyone nodded or looked thoughtful. Except Lea, who rubbed the back of his neck. "Am I the only one who doesn't know what we're talking about here?"

"Why my boy," said Merlin with a chuckle. "We mean _time travel_ , of course!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Sleeping on the job? Figures."

Riku jolted back to alertness and hopped to his feet. He hadn't been _sleeping_ exactly… but he did feel more rested. "Are we ready for our next move?"

Vanitas pulled off his helmet and dropped it to the ground. Now Riku could see his glare instead of just imagining it. It was a strange expression to see on a Sora-like face. "Tell me how you intend to continue with your plan while not _leaving my room._ "

"We can't, obviously," Riku said with a shrug. "We'll have to risk that much. But if you can transfer me to the others without talking to them – or even better, without them _seeing_ you – then I think we should be able to get away with it."

"Tch. I don't know if I can do it over that much distance."

"Xehanort can call you over any distance. So it's possible. We don't need to have his range. Just… across a room, maybe."

"Okay, genius," Vanitas said with a roll of his eyes. "But then how are you going to get back? There's no way I can just follow them around for a couple hours and expect them not to notice."

"Right…" Riku mused to himself. "Well… you've been able to move me around yourself, within your own heart. Do you think _you_ could pull me back, after a reasonable amount of time has passed?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. No way to know until we've tried it." Vanitas's tone was acidic.

"We'll just have to give it a try then," Riku countered with forced enthusiasm.

"You know you could end up stuck in one of the seekers' hearts, permanently," Vanitas commented with a cruel smile.

"Like I already told you… it's worth the risk. I've got to do whatever I can to try to stop Xehanort. And right now, _this_ is all I can do."

"I could also choose to _leave you_ in someone else's heart. Rid myself of your obnoxious presence."

Riku grit his teeth. "Yes, you could. _I get it._ But I'll still take that chance. So now, _are we doing this or not?_ "

Vanitas made a disgusted face. "Watch your attitude. You're lucky I'm so patient with you."

Riku rolled his eyes, knowing Vanitas wouldn't see it. "So…?"

Vanitas finally gave up his game. "Whatever. So, who would you like to risk getting stuck with?"

Riku had given a lot of thought to the seeker he wished to target next. But the chance of getting stuck _permanently_ made him reconsider his first choice. "Let's try… Vexen," Riku decided.

"That creep? You're serious? What happened to picking the ones most likely to help us?"

"Vexen is… yeah, not the greatest person, I agree. But he's most likely to get rescued by my friends. They know he was recompleted, and they know that Xehanort kidnapped him again, so they'll make it a higher priority to get him back. So he makes the most sense for me to pick, if there's a chance I'll get stuck there…"

Vanitas looked incredulous, but just shook his head. "Whatever. And you know I'll be sure to blame you for everything if he rats us out to Xehanort."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you," Riku sighed.

Vanitas looked furious and started flaring an aura of dark energy.

Riku hastened to clarify, "We succeed or fail together. I can't pull this off without you. And you need me, too."

Vanitas let the dark energy dissipate. "Well, aren't you just a disgusting bundle of sentimentality. I think I'm going to be sick." Vanitas summoned his keyblade and pointed it at Riku. "Let's do a little target practice before I risk my life to sneak up on that loony scientist."

"Target practice" ended up meaning "flinging Riku around practice." Riku ended up as dazed as if Vanitas _had_ actually been hitting him. Vanitas's first assault landed Riku awkwardly on Vanitas's heart station. Riku only got as far as pushing up to his knees before he was yanked away again and sent hurtling through another high-speed dive portal. This one dumped him back in the Oblivion throne room. Riku landed half-on one chair and immediately fell off, landing hard on the floor. He only got a moment to catch his breath before he was sucked away from that location and sent somewhere else.

Vanitas played with pulling Riku around several more times while Riku just tried to get in a cure spell quickly enough before Vanitas's next move disrupted the spell. Riku kept his eyes clenched shut, trying to hold back his growing nausea. At last, at his next location, he was allowed to lay still on the ground long enough to fully steady his breathing.

Vanitas planted a foot on Riku's side. "I think I've got the hang of moving you around!" he said cheerfully.

"Good job," Riku grumbled, trying to not sound completely sarcastic.

Vanitas laughed. "So, are you ready to go or do you need to hurl?"

Riku took a moment before replying to cast another cure spell. "I'm fine," he said as he shakily stood up. "Let's go."

x-x-x

They found Vexen at a desk in his laboratory, working feverishly on some paperwork.

(I can't approach him like this,) Vanitas hissed in the mental space. (He'll tattle to Xehanort for sure!)

(Can you cast the spell sleep?) Riku suggested.

(Are you stupid?! I would have already suggested it if I could!)

(Okay, okay…) Riku made an attempt to cast sleep at Vexen, but nothing happened.

(I could have told you that wouldn't work.)

(I had to try it just in case!) Riku tried to think of any excuse Vanitas could use to start up a conversation with Vexen, but could come up with nothing that wouldn't sound suspicious. Vexen meanwhile continued on his work, seemingly oblivious to Vanitas's presence. (He's not looking. Could you just try to send me over from here?)

Vanitas was silent a long moment. Riku thought for sure the other boy was just going to insult him or start complaining again. Instead, Vanitas asked, (How long will you need?)

That was a good question. (How long was I inside Demyx's heart?)

(I don't know. I didn't keep track. A while. Half an hour?) Vanitas said petulantly.

(How about two hours then, just in case. I don't trust Vexen, and so it might take me longer to find Xehanort's heart if I can't get Even to cooperate with me.) Riku shifted his focus so he could no longer see Vexen at the desk, but now could see Vanitas in the darkened Traverse Town. "Don't take any big risks to get me back. Wait until the circumstances are good."

"You don't have to tell me that," Vanitas said, rolling his eyes dramatically. "And you… you try not to give our plan away."

Riku nodded. "Got it."

Vanitas whipped out his keyblade. "Don't screw up!" he yelled by way of farewell as he sent Riku's heart out on the path of the chains towards Vexen's heart.

The air felt thin, insubstantial. Riku felt a moment of terror, realizing he hadn't considered the possibility that his heart wouldn't make the initial transfer, let alone a return. What would happen to his heart if it fell from the path of chains? Would he become a heartless?! Riku made every exertion he could then to stay in the path. He banged headlong into several boulder-like obstacles in his attempts to stay centered. Riku flailed his arms and kicked his legs as though he were swimming in the air. It made little difference, but little was just enough. He reached a glowing white portal that marked the edge of Vexen's heart and hurtled through.

Now Riku was falling through a normal dive to the heart. He could hardly find the motivation to pay attention to the floating images, as he was still gripped by the terror that he had _nearly lost his own existence._ A few heartless appeared as he fell, but they were relatively weak and almost not even worth the effort of attacking. At last, Riku passed through the final portal and landed inside Vexen/Even's heart.

The location was Radiant Garden, which wasn't really surprising. The big surprise was that it was the current Radiant Garden, rather than that of the past. Riku supposed it must be because Even had had some time to get used to being a person again before getting kidnapped by Xehanort. He had already accepted the changes in the world. Riku idly wondered if the other recompleted Organization Thirteen members had the past or the present version of their home in their hearts.

Riku looked around and saw Even conversing with Ienzo and some others off in the square. He remembered how well it had gone to try to approach Edym inside his own heart – and Riku was still somewhat suspicious of Even anyway. He would really rather not have to interact with Even at all if he could avoid it. As a nobody, Vexen had always looked at Riku as though he were something to be dissected and studied. Once his heart was restored, Even still seemed almost the same. His eyes were always cold, and he looked at people in the same sort of dismissive way as DiZ had looked at Naminé and Roxas. It made Riku deeply uncomfortable.

Riku closed his eyes and focused his senses, trying to make out where Xehanort's heart was hiding. But he could sense nothing. _It must not be in this layer,_ Riku mused. That made sense, the more he thought of it. Xehanort would want his heart difficult to remove, so he would plant it as deeply as he could. That made Riku's job more difficult, however.

Still, Riku needed to carry on. He only had two hours – what had previously sounded like an abundance of time now felt like it might not be enough. He needed to get into the lower levels of Even's heart and find Xehanort quickly.

And now Even was approaching him, rapidly. His face was cold and determined. Riku glanced around for someplace to hide and found nothing close by. And then Even swung his shield at his head. Riku only just managed to duck. He summoned his keyblade but then was frozen in place mid-swing.

"Ha! Not so strong in here, are you?!" Even crowed. He summoned a cloud full of icicle spears and sent them hurtling at Riku.

Riku was so surprised at being caught off guard that he needed several moments for his thoughts to catch up and remind him that Even was a master of ice magic. And that he had apparently figured out how to boost his strength inside his own mind. Finally Riku was able to break free of the spell immobilizing him and drop to the ground in an aching ball. "Even! Will you quit attacking me?! This isn't helping anything!"

"Maybe not, but it makes me feel _much_ better."

Riku groaned, did a shadow slip to get back a few paces, then cast curaga on himself. "I don't want to fight you! Um, this time…" Remembering how Vanitas had gone around assaulting the other darkness seekers, Riku cringed with embarrassment. _That sure came back to bite me quickly_. "Please, can we talk things out?"

Even was staring at Riku, a puzzled look on his face. "That wasn't your magic. And that… _that_ is not your keyblade! _What_ is going on?!" Even demanded.

Riku groaned. "Apparently I am really bad at this. Before I say anything else, will you promise to not say anything to Xehanort?"

Even sniffed in disdain. "I have nothing to say to that man. Now explain."

Riku decided he needed to take the chance that he could trust Even. "Okay, so first of all, I'm… I'm not…" _I'm not really Vanitas. I'm Riku._ Riku couldn't get the words to come out. The disguise spell wouldn't allow it. Riku clenched his jaw and changed tactics. "I'm not here for you. I'm here for Xehanort's heart."

"Ah, so you're attempting a more subtle method of subverting the master's plans." Even looked almost impressed. "But if I allow you to proceed, am I not risking my own wellbeing? Surely the master's reprisals would target me as well?"

Even liked using a lot of big words. Riku wasn't sure he knew what they all meant. But he thought he got the gist of it. "You're right – the only way my plan will work is if you can pretend you're still under Xehanort's control after I break his hold on you. He needs to think nothing is wrong, up until the X-Blade gets summoned. His visions of the future have blank spots, and we – I think that's the next one that he can't see beyond."

"Interesting." Even raised an eyebrow. "So you think you can exploit his certainty in his visions to plant a weakness where he would not expect one to be able to take root. Surprisingly ingenious, for you, Vanitas." Even turned and started pacing slowly. "But still, why should I aid you? How does your plan work to _my_ advantage?"

Riku gaped at Even, incredulous. "How does my…? Don't you _want_ to be free of Xehanort's control?! Don't you _want_ to be able to live your own life, and not exist just as one of his pawns? Do you _really_ want to help him _destroy all the worlds?!_ "

"The master says he will create something new and wonderful. Shouldn't I, as a scientist, also wish to see such a thing?" Even looked off to the side and downward, avoiding Riku's gaze.

"Don't you care about anything in the current worlds?" Riku pressed. "Or any _one?_ Everyone will die if Xehanort gets his way…"

"Everyone will _die_ if I try to cross Xehanort!" Even roared. Then he realized he had misspoken, blanched, and turned away. "That is… I mean…"

"Xehanort has threatened the people you care about," Riku guessed. It wasn't that surprising, really. "That he'll kill them if you try to resist him. But Even, the thing is… if Xehanort completes his plan, then _they'll die anyway._ Stopping Xehanort is the only way they'll have a chance to live. Isn't it worth it to at least _try,_ since if we fail, their fates will be the same anyway?"

Even gave Riku a dirty, sideways glance. "And how am I to know it isn't too late already? How do I know my… my ward still lives?"

"Your ward… you mean Ienzo?" Riku thought he remembered Ienzo saying something to that effect – that he'd been unofficially adopted by Even – to answer to how he had come to be involved with Ansem's assistants as a boy. Riku hadn't expected Even to _actually_ be capable of real affection.

"Does Ienzo live? – tell me _that_ , puppet, and I will cooperate with your absurd plan!" Even scowled at Riku, his eyes wild. "But if he does not… if the master has slain my… has slain Ienzo, in defiance of his promise… then what do I have left to fight for? No, I may as well wait patiently, that I might be counted worthy to witness a birth of a new universe!"

 _He's crazy. And way too interested in the reforming of the worlds for his own good._ And besides that, Riku couldn't remember the last time he had seen Ienzo, either. "Can't you go check on Ienzo yourself?"

"Don't be foolish!" Even snapped. "If I make any attempt to contact him myself, the master will destroy him!"

Riku sighed silently. "But how can I prove he's alive… I can't go talk to him. And if I grab something of his, you could just say—"

"—That anyone could have grabbed one of his old things. A physical object proves nothing," Even agreed.

Riku groaned audibly. _How do you prove someone's existence?! I might as well be trying to prove that Roxas existed! Wait…_ Roxas. They still had evidence of him… in that photograph from the data Twilight Town. "Even, do you have a camera?"

Even nodded, pleased. "I do indeed. In the lower left drawer of my desk. Return the camera to me with a picture of Ienzo, and I will count that as sufficient."

Finally Riku was able to relax. He had a plan to placate Even. Now on to the next problem. "I'll do that as soon as I get back to… um, my conscious body," Riku finished awkwardly. Finding Ienzo would hopefully not be too difficult. But it was a reasonable request, all things considered. "But I'm going to need to make sure your nobody Vexen doesn't sell me out to Xehanort before I can fulfill your request. And the only way to do that is to break Xehanort's control over you _right now._ So, do we have an agreement?"

Even scowled again while he considered the conditions. At last he nodded, though still scowling. "I suppose we must. Very well. Do what is necessary."

"Great." Riku finally felt secure enough to walk closer to Even without expecting to get attacked again. "Now, could you point me in the direction of Xehanort's heart?"

"Can't you find him on your own?"

"Well yeah, eventually. If you don't mind me randomly wandering through your heart, running into all sorts of memories…"

Even's eye twitched. "Follow me. I will take you there myself."

x-x-x

"That's it?" Even's tone was incredulous.

"Yep. That's it," Riku replied, surveying the unconscious, sleep-sealed Xehanort. This had been the easiest battle yet. Even had wanted to help, too, and Riku didn't know how to talk him out of it. The hardest part was stopping Even from destroying Xehanort's heart entirely. Riku was relieved to see that Even at least possessed a healthy amount of hatred toward the decrepit old master. "So now, I just need to get back to the upper levels of your heart, and then I can be on my way…"

"Don't forget, boy—" Even snarled.

"—I owe you a photo of Ienzo. I got it memorized." Riku couldn't resist. He even playfully tapped the side of his head. Lea rubbed off on everybody.

Even glared at Riku in revulsion. "Don't you _ever_ imitate that… Gah!" Even summoned his shield again and shook it threateningly at Riku. "Get out of my heart now, you brat!"

"Yessir. Going now!" With a laugh, Riku departed for the upper layers of Even's heart.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Endnote:_

 _When I started writing the scene where Riku enters Vexen's heart, I intended for it to be a simple, quick scene. But Vexen/Even took over and next thing I knew, he was picking a fight with Riku. And giving Riku a side-quest! Haha! It's not often I have a character take over a scene and redirect it like that. But in this case, I think it added a lot to the story._


	6. Chapter 6

**Afterdeath**

Chapter 6

It was late, but Lea found himself unable to sleep, so he had gone walking again. The details of their plan – or at least, as much as Yen Sid and Merlin were willing to trust them with – was still rolling around in his mind. There were a lot of little details that needed to go right in order for this to work. Lea hated it when a plan was complicated. It seemed guaranteed to go wrong. Or maybe that was just his plans. Hopefully Yen Sid and Merlin's plans went better…

Lea was wandering around in the strange, twilit woodlands that surrounded Yen Sid's tower. There wasn't much to explore: this must have been the tiniest world Lea had ever been on. It was really more like a little island floating among the stars. Lea had a strong suspicion that Yen Sid had created the whole place – land and all – as his own personal retreat. Lea promised himself that if he ever got that powerful, he would definitely make a world of his own, too. A nice, quiet place with sunsets and ice cream, where he could hang out with all his friends…

Lea stopped abruptly. His favorite brooding spot was taken. He started to leave, but the other person turned and noticed him. Lea sauntered up with a casual wave. "Hey, Kairi. Why aren't you off with Sora?"

"He _ditched me_ ," Kairi replied with animosity. And a sniffle. "When will he stop trying to 'protect' me by leaving me behind?!"

Uh oh. Lea flopped down on the ground next to Kairi, since she was perched on his favorite rock. "Honest answer? Probably never. He's just too hard-wired to look after people."

"I can protect myself now!"

"Hey, hey – I know it. I've got the bruises to prove it, too." Lea rubbed his arm for emphasis. "Merlin can't stop talking about how well your training is coming. Everyone knows you're not defenseless. It's just… the worlds are still dangerous, for anyone. Even Sora isn't invincible…"

"I know!" Kairi sobbed. "But that's why he _needs me!_ He shouldn't be running off alone! We need to stick together now. Riku was… Riku _is_ my friend, too. I know no one wants to talk about it, but I know that everyone is scared about what happened."

"It really emphasizes that none of us are safe, yeah," Lea agreed. "That's not an easy thing to talk about. So most of us just want to press on with the plan and pretend nothing happened."

"Did you mean what you said?" Kairi asked in a small voice. "That Riku… that Xehanort wouldn't have actually killed him. Or did you just say that to make us feel better?"

"Can't it be both?" Lea asked, trying to lighten the mood. He gave up after Kairi glared at him. "I meant what I said. Xehanort gave us the news in a really dramatic – really cruel way. But if he was already going to go that far, why not send us a body, too, while he was at it? I mean… I can't guarantee anything, of course. But I really do think there's a hope that Riku is still alive. Just… erm, severely inconvenienced in a heart-based way, no doubt."

Kairi shuddered. "That's not really any better, I know. But at least… we know what it takes to fix that." She gave Lea a piercing, curious look. "How bad was it, really? To lose your heart. And then get it back. I know you don't like to talk about it, but please…"

Lea sighed and scrubbed at the back of his neck. "It was… not pleasant. Okay honestly, it was the worst experience of my life. Not the most painful but… horribly uncomfortable in a different way. And when I woke up as a nobody… there was a constant feeling of _wrongness_. I knew something important was missing. My heart, I guess. Do you remember how it feels, when you realize you've forgotten something important? It was like that, all the time."

Kairi scuffed her feet in the dirt and stared at the marks she made. "I'm sorry, Lea. I just… want to understand better. And then, when you got your heart back? How did that feel?"

"Oh, that was just fine!" Lea brightened. "Just like waking up… from a really long, weird dream… and you're super groggy and can't remember where you are… and you have really bad breath for some reason…"

Kairi laughed at that. "Well, that's good, at least. You seem to be okay now." She looked to Lea for confirmation.

Lea nodded. "Yeah. I'm okay. Or close enough, at least. Don't worry about Riku, Kairi. We'll get things figured out and he'll be just fine."

"Yes. You're right," she said with emphasis, commanding it to be true. Then she sighed. "But now I still have to worry that Sora will go off and do something stupid…"

"He does tend to do that," Lea agreed.

"Riku was the one who was best at keeping Sora from being reckless…" Kairi started sniffling again, and discreetly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"So we'll have to take care of Riku's job while he's away. Don't worry, princess – I'll help you keep tabs on Sora." Lea gave a reassuring grin. "We're a team now, and we all look out for each other. Got it memorized?"

Kairi gave him a watery grin. "Thanks, Lea."

"Anytime, Kairi."

They sat together in silence for a while. Lea went ahead with the brooding about the mission that he'd meant to do. Kairi worked on getting her tears and emotions under control.

At last, Kairi spoke up into the silence. "Hey, Lea?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Sora would take me more seriously if I had a cool catchphrase?"

Lea snorted into his fist. Then he yawned widely. "I think he'd take you more seriously if you weren't yawning through the whole mission tomorrow!"

"I'm not yawning, you're yawning!" Kairi retorted petulantly. She yawned herself at the end of it.

"Go to bed, princess."

She stood and stretched. "Fine. You'd better, too. Don't be a hypocrite."

"Yes, princess. I'll be along in a minute."

Lea lay down on the ground to take a few moments to stare up at the stars. Each was another full, separate world, full of people with hopes and dreams and light and darkness. One of those lights was Radiant Garden, shining again after being darkened for so long. And most of its people were back now – most of them, but not all. "Ah, Isa, where are you? What's he done to you now? What will it take to get you free again?"

Lea kept brooding, lost in regrets and memories, until he fell asleep.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku was shocked 'awake' out of his sleep-like state by the sensation of hurtling across the sky at high speed. He landed at high speed as well, and tumbled several times before landing roughly against an immovable object. Riku groaned. Though disembodied, that still hurt. He started working himself up to cast a cure spell, but instead he was grabbed by the shirt and yanked upright.

"Where?! Were?! You?!" Vanitas bellowed, shaking him for emphasis.

Riku was bruised and groggy and had no idea what Vanitas was freaking out about. "Is something wrong?" He cast a cure spell, then immediately cast another.

"You weren't there! I tried to pull you back, but you weren't there!" Vanitas dropped Riku and stomped a few paces away to release a cloud of darkness that formed into red-eyed monsters. The monsters skittered away down the alleyways of the town.

"I'm sorry! I returned to the upper layer of Even's heart as quickly as I could." Riku cast another cure spell. He was feeling mostly functional now, and so slowly, cautiously approached Vanitas. "How long was I inside Even's heart?"

"I don't know." Vanitas abruptly summoned his helmet and put it on.

"You… don't know. Was it more than two hours then?"

"I just said I don't know!" Vanitas yelled back at him.

Riku paused, trying to think twice through his words before saying them. "Did something go wrong, that you needed me back sooner?"

At first, it seemed like Vanitas wasn't going to answer him. Then he finally said, "I saw your heart in the space between me and Vexen. And then it vanished. I didn't know if you made it or… just disappeared."

Riku couldn't help but grin. He still had the mask on anyway. "So you were just—" _worried about me?_ Riku cut himself off a split-second before Vanitas turned around to glare at him. "—just making sure the transfer didn't fail? That makes sense. It actually seemed a little unstable to me, too. You'd better throw me harder next time."

Vanitas just stared at him.

"You know… throw me harder, across the path of chains, to the next seeker's heart." Vanitas was still standing motionless. Riku found himself really wishing the other would take his helmet off again. That blank surface gave no hints as to what the other was thinking. He decided to change the subject. "What were those monsters that came out of you, anyway?"

"Didn't your _master_ tell you about me?" Vanitas sneered. "Those are the _unversed_. They're my… they're born from me," he snapped and turned away.

"Oh… so that's what unversed are. Yeah, Yen Sid showed me a book that talked about them, but it didn't really describe them much…" Riku trailed off. Vanitas was walking away from him now, clearly signaling he was done having a conversation. But then Riku suddenly remembered that he had one more awkward thing to break to Vanitas. "Wait a second – we need to go back to Vexen's study one more time. We need to get his camera because I promised we'd take a picture for him."

Vanitas stopped and turned, and removed his helmet this time so Riku could fully appreciate his expression of disgust. "You're offering them favors now? Unbelievable."

"Uh, it's actually more like he's blackmailing me…" Riku clarified.

Vanitas shook his head. "You are officially the biggest idiot I have ever met."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Castle Oblivion loomed above them. The entire team had made it, traveling by either gummi ship or dark corridor. The good fairies had provided darkness-resistant clothing for those still needing it: the ex-nobodies, and Aqua who had lost her armor. Sora, Kairi, and Aqua stood in a cluster, talking strategy. Donald, Mickey, and Goofy were standing at attention beside Yen Sid, who had uncharacteristically chosen to leave his tower. Merlin had come with them as well, but was no longer in sight. And Dilan, Aeleus, and Ienzo stood together, with Lea awkwardly sauntering around, trying to look nonchalant.

"Stop hovering," Ienzo said dryly. "I am fine."

Lea rubbed at the back of his hair. "Are you really sure you want to–?"

"Yes, Lea," Ienzo talked over him. "Now stop fussing. I am getting tired of your guilt complex. We have more important things to worry about now."

"Yeah, yeah." Lea still looked uncomfortable. He wandered over to join Sora and Kairi instead.

"All our preparations are in place. Are you ready?" Yen Sid asked Aqua.

Aqua nodded and summoned her keyblade. It was a relatively simple-looking, chunky blade. She closed her eyes and did nothing but breathe deeply several times. When she opened her eyes again, her expression was pure determination. She raised the keyblade toward the castle, and light shot out from its tip, which rapidly grew and enveloped the entire castle. The outline of a keyhole appeared in front of her. Aqua hesitated, but only a second. She lunged and another ray of light shot from her keyblade to the keyhole. A ring of light shimmered around the keyhole, and then it spread to cover their entire castle. Castle Oblivion transformed, in a blinding display of complex magic that made most of those present need to avert their eyes.

The light cleared, and a different sort of castle stood in the place of Oblivion. It was a bright, golden structure, seemingly suspended by massive chains between two spindly mountains. Much friendlier than the dark, disjointed structure it had been before.

And then everyone turned away from the castle at the rushing sound of many dark corridors opening at once. A half-dozen figures in black coats and hoods slowly approached, followed by a veritable army of heartless and nobodies.

"I'm grateful to you for unlocking the castle for us," said one of the cloaked figures. Xemnas, his voice revealed him to be, though he kept his hood up and summoned no weapon yet. "But now I'll be retrieving my friend. And the rest of you should get out of my way or you will suffer a _terrible_ fate," he said coyly.

Yen Sid raised an arm, and at that, a massive, translucent pink bubble descended upon the castle and the guardians of light, leaving the army of darkness on the outside.

Xemnas laughed. "You really think you can stop us? Our master has prepared us for every eventuality." He then summoned one glowing, red Ethereal blade and poked the shield with it. The shield flashed on contact and repulsed the blade with quiet noise. Xemnas grinned sharkily. "A shield that keeps us outside and you in. We cannot reach you from here, but nor can you attack us from where you stand. It would even keep you safe – if it were only to _last_."

At that impromptu signal, the rest of the black coats approached, each summoning their weapons. Then with no hesitation, all six of them attacked the same spot on the shield at once. The pink shield bowed under the onslaught, then burst. Kairi audibly gasped.

Grinning with pure confidence now, Xemnas strutted forward. "I give you one final chance to surrender yourselves and join with us. Otherwise, you will surely be…"

Xemnas froze in place, his mouth still open on a half-formed word. The other seekers of darkness were similarly still. As were the heartless and nobodies.

"Go now! Time is fleeting!" Merlin declared, suddenly popping into sight, literally from thin air. "You must defeat the dangers of the castle and retrieve Ventus before my time spells fail!"

"Or before Xehanort becomes wise to what we are doing and sends more reinforcements," Yen Sid adds grimly.

"Don't bother casting any time spells of your own, by the way; they won't work correctly. I also have all of us inside a massive hastega bubble. Normally I would be very interested in studying the effects of a time spell _inside_ a time spell, but…"

"Let's go," Aqua said to the others firmly.

Sora nodded. "Lead the way." He had to jog to catch up to Aqua's determined walk.

x-x-x

The entrance hall was filled with Riku replicas. This time, the number was clearly at least a hundred. The replicas were also clearly expecting them. The whole front row immediately began casting dark firagas at the intruders.

"Reflect!" "Aero!"

Those who could cast protective magic did so. Sora, Aqua, and Mickey each batted fireballs back toward the Rikus. With a look of grim determination, Ienzo summoned his Lexicon. At the same time, Kairi raised her keyblade. "Light!" they incanted simultaneously. The whole entrance chamber was flooded with blinding illumination. Some of the Rikus shrieked.

Aqua and Sora dashed ahead into the light, bashing all the targets they could find with rapid combos of keyblade slashes. By the time the double light spell cleared, over half the replicas had already dissolved into nothingness.

Now that they had good visibility again, the remaining their keybearers rushed forward and joined the fighting as well. Dilan and Aeleus advanced slowly at the back, keeping one eye on the front door for signs of additional enemies sneaking in through there. They targeted more distant Rikus by throwing lances or axe sword respectively. Ienzo advanced more confidently and captured several replicas inside his Lexicon. Then with his magic he created three ghostly Riku replicas that he could control and send to attack their fellows with their own powers.

Kairi advanced too quickly and found herself surrounded by Rikus. She tried to cast Light again to break herself free, but the replicas struck too quickly and interrupted her spellcasting. She was forced to turn to blind hacking and healing herself as often as she was able. She grit her teeth and swallowed her pride. "Hey! Can I get some help?!"

Sora dashed to her rescue almost immediately. "Kairi! Hold on!" He dove and slashed at the Rikus and turned them all into wisps of smoke. As Kairi cast Cure on herself, Sora turned to face her. "You need to be more careful! Stick close to me!" And then he turned and bounded off back into battle before Kairi could react.

A wall of Rikus formed between Kairi and Sora almost instantly. Kairi shook her head and cast Light at them.

"Hey, princess. Mind watching my back for a bit?" Lea popped up beside her, not giving any hints whether he had just overheard or not. "I'm feeling a bit out of my depth around all these keyblade masters." He waved a vague hand toward where Sora was literally bouncing off walls to wallop more replicas. "Shall we team up? Just like training?"

Kairi grinned wryly. "Sure. Let's keep moving."

x-x-x

As the number of Rikus dwindled, the remaining ones grew stronger – a fact that everyone had suspected before Sora finally confirmed it. Lea had previously explained the replicas claimed to each have a splinter of a heart – apparently, as the replicas were destroyed, their heart splinters joined with other remaining ones and gave them more power.

In spite of this, they continued progressing forward, following Aqua's directions. The castle layout was mostly straightforward; their destination was the most central chamber.

Finally Aqua halted in front of a massive double door. She turned and addressed the group. "Defeat all the replicas first! I don't want any to get inside!"

In the interests of speed, Kairi, Ienzo, and Mickey all cast Light at the dozen remaining Rikus. They were too strong now to be defeated by the one spell, but they were weakened by it, making it quicker for the keybearers to finish them off. At last, when there were no more replicas in sight, Donald thoughtfully cast Cure on those who were needing it.

"Now," Aqua murmured to herself. She aimed the keyblade at the doors and magically unlocked them. The doors swung open outward on their own. "Come on!" Aqua didn't hesitate as she dashed inside.

Inside was a great hall, with three thrones at the far end. The middle throne was occupied by a sleeping figure, who looked exactly like…

"Roxas?!" Lea gasped, not believing his eyes. "But that's impossible! You said this was—"

"Ventus!" Aqua said affectionately, running to her friend. "I'm glad you're still safe after all this time."

"What?" Lea gaped. "I am so confused."

Goofy and Donald were wandering the room. "Uh, where do ya think the key would be, your majesty?" Goofy asked.

"Yen Sid said that it would appear when it was needed," Mickey mused to himself. Then he snapped his fingers. "Got it! Sora, come here for a second!"

"Uh, okay... What do you need me to do?"

Meanwhile, Lea had wandered up for a closer look at Ventus. "This guy's… wait. Now I'm getting déjà vu. Did he go by Ven?"

Aqua nodded.

"So, that means I met him before." Lea rubbed the back of his neck. "And he totally… uh, that is, we had a friendly sparring match. I remember he had a weird key sword… Why couldn't I remember him until now?"

"He's been sleeping," Aqua said. "Sometimes if a sleep is deep enough, it can pull parts of memories to sleep with it."

"Okay, I don't get that at all, but whatever." Lea shook his head. "But what I really want to know now is why he looks just like Roxas!"

Aqua looked surprised. "Ven looks like Roxas?"

"Got it!" Sora yelled in triumph. He, Mickey, Donald and Goofy all stood in the center of the great hall. Sora's right hand was stretched upward, and a small keyblade was slowly descending from the ceiling towards his hand.

"That must be the key!" Aqua exclaimed. "We have everything we need!"

"Yes, indeed. I must thank you again for that." Xemnas appeared from a side door into the chamber. His hood was down and his hair a bit disheveled, but he looked thoroughly pleased with himself. At his gesture, a dusk dashed from his side and leapt into the air to seize the keyblade before Sora could reach it.

Two more black coated figures entered the hall from the main entrance.

"No!" Aqua shrieked.

Sora had already dashed after the dusk, destroyed it, and claimed the new keyblade. But in that time, Xemnas had dashed in an unstoppable blur to seize Ventus and carry him to the far side of the chamber. "Time to go, I'm afraid," he said cheerfully. He held up a hand and summoned a dark corridor.

Or rather, tried to. The magic orb wouldn't take form.

"What is this?!" Xemnas murmured, angry. Then he had to blur into motion again to dodge Aqua's furious attacks. Xemnas couldn't fight back with his arms full, but nor was Aqua fast enough to land a hit on him.

Meanwhile, the other two black coats had begun attacking the others. Marluxia had his scythe out and sent Dilan flying with a hard strike. Xigbar meanwhile was simultaneously sniping at both Ienzo and Aeleus, keeping them from getting close enough to attack.

"This is a sacred space. You can't connect to darkness in here," Aqua growled at Xemnas, and then finally succeeded in striking him with a magic surge.

Xemnas dropped Ventus and stumbled back, but quickly recovered and scooped Ventus up in his arms again. "So, you blocked access to the spaces between inside this room? That is a clever move." He dodged Aqua again. "But you can never defeat _destiny!_ "

Aqua threw all her remaining strength into a massive magic spell that sent Xemnas and Ventus sprawling across the floor. "Take _that_ , Mr. Destiny!" she gasped, panting from the exertion.

"Marluxia!" Xemnas yelled from the floor. "Do it now!"

"Enjoy your final requiem," Marluxia murmured with great solemnity. He raised his scythe over his head and flower petals exploded out from it, blanketing the entire room. "Sleep Pollen!"

No! NO!

Everyone tried to protest, to fight it, but their movements were sluggish. Aqua, Ienzo, and Kairi succumbed first, exhausted as they were from the battle. Mickey somehow managed to cast Light once again, slowing the nobodies down, but only slightly.

Lea felt the sleep overtaking him as he watched Marluxia and Xigbar dragging Sora away too. Meanwhile Xemnas was strutting away with Roxas slung over his shoulder. No wait – that was Ventus. Or was it Roxas…?

Lea shook his head. He was getting confused. But meanwhile, Xemnas was leaving with Roxas again, and Lea had to do something. Too bad he couldn't just do an ultimate attack like before, when he had sacrificed himself to save Sora and Roxas in the dark corridor.

Actually, why couldn't he do that again? He had nothing else to lose.

Lea held up his keyblade in one hand and summoned both chakram to his other hand. Then he threw everything he had into his one, massive fire spell. Just like before.

Lea shrieked with pain as the fire danced around him, but ran toward those light-accursed black coats and grabbed ahold of Xemnas and held him tight inside his swirling inferno and the black coats screamed and Lea screamed and the fire screamed and everything around him was just burning and burning and

Black.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Xehanort's calling a meeting," Vanitas unexpected spoke up into the long silence.

Riku suddenly snapped awake from the sleep-like state he'd been in. He looked around at the surroundings of Vanitas's heart and found them unchanged. Not like the last time Vanitas had been summoned. "But he didn't call you? How can you tell?"

Vanitas tapped the side of his helmet. "I can sense the flow of darkness around us. Lots of dark corridors, all opening up into the throne room."

Riku stood up. "So this would be a good time to grab the camera, and sneak out and get the picture."

"No."

Riku sighed. They had already had a long argument about this. "You said you wanted to wait until you were sure it was safe. How much safer can it get than this?"

"Xehanort will be watching us!" Vanitas yelled in Riku's face.

"He's holding a _meeting!_ You said meetings are only for when something has gone wrong. His focus will be on the other vessels." Riku started pacing. "And I'm worried about taking too long on this. Even basically threatened that he would tell Xehanort everything we're up to if we don't get his picture for him right away…"

Vanitas crossed his arms and turned away from Riku. "We can't… get his picture."

Riku gaped. "But we _have_ to! I promised him—"

"You shouldn't have made a promise you can't keep."

Riku stalked toward Vanitas. " _Why_ can't we get the picture? Is Ienzo already dead? What do you know?"

"I don't know anything about that kid, okay?! We just… can't go."

Riku was really getting confused now. "Are you saying… we can't leave this world? Why? You had no trouble going to the Destiny Islands before."

"That was a mistake," Vanitas hissed, turning away from Riku again.

"A mistake?"

"Stop repeating everything I say!" Vanitas snapped back at him.

Riku grabbed Vanitas and spun him around to face him, then yanked off his helmet so he could see his face. Vanitas didn't look angry or spiteful. He just looked… scared. "Vanitas, this could jeopardize the success of our – of _your_ whole plan. I need to understand now, _why can't we leave the World That Never Was?_ "

"It's because of _you_ , okay?!" Vanitas shoved Riku back, and covered his face with his helmet again. "I can't take you through the corridors of darkness with me. You're not protected."

"But I am," Riku countered. "My clothes—"

"Your clothes were left _on your body!_ Your form in here – any form – is just an illusion, built out of memories."

"You have a black coat, though. Those are designed to protect hearts—"

"Xehanort _tracks those._ He'd know everywhere we went if I wore it to another world."

"Oh." Riku hadn't realized that fact about the black coats. He wondered if that meant _Xehanort_ had been watching his every move while he and Mickey had been trying to infiltrate Organization Thirteen. He exhaled slowly. "We'll just need to risk it. Brief exposure shouldn't hurt me."

"No. I'm not risking you turning into a psychotic heartless inside my heart."

"I'm not going to turn into a heartless," Riku groaned. He went to rub his forehead, but only hit the helmet. He still wasn't used to this form. But that gave him a new question. "Why don't you need to wear the black coat to travel the corridors?"

"I'm literally _made of darkness,_ duh! I'm immune to it."

Immune to it. "Young Xehanort… he told me I was of no use to the organization anymore because I was _immune to darkness._ I've converted the darkness inside of me to light, so I can't be corrupted anymore…"

Vanitas cocked his head. "You think you can trust what Xehanort says in any form? You're crazy."

"Well, he did say that right before he tried to kill me," Riku noted. "It basically sounded like he was lamenting they couldn't use me as a vessel, too…"

Vanitas considered this. Then he shook his head. "It would be great if it was true… walking everywhere is a blasted waste of time!" He growled under his breath then jabbed Riku in the chest with a pointed finger. "If I detect as much as a _whiff_ of extra darkness from you, we're done!"

"Deal." Riku offered him a hand to shake.

Vanitas slapped his hand aside and moved away from Riku. The sky over the dark town flickered once, as from a black bolt of lightning. Vanitas turned to study Riku intently, then finally shrugged. "Now, where did you say that stupid camera is?"

x-x-x

(This is so stupid. Everyone is staring at me,) Vanitas complained.

(It's your own fault for not wanting to take the time to get real clothes,) Riku countered.

(Shut up!)

Vanitas, wearing makeshift robes and a hood made from draped bedsheets, was wandering through Radiant Garden, hoping for a glimpse of Ienzo. They had portalled into the castle and found it deserted. Vanitas had wanted to give up already, but Riku pressured him to search the surrounding town first.

(Keep moving. Pretend like you belong here, and you're not just a suspicious guy in a bedsheet,) Riku coached.

(Shut! Up!)

Vanitas awkwardly shuffled to an alleyway, and when no one was looking, hopped up onto the rooftops. From there, he surveyed the castle town faster, and with fewer people noticing him. (You spot him yet?) Vanitas demanded. (I'm running out of town.)

(I haven't seen anyone I know here…) Riku was worried. (If there was a problem, they might have headed to Yen Sid's tower…)

(I think it's a safe bet there was a problem. Xehanort wouldn't hold a meeting about nothing, you know.) Vanitas readjusted his bedsheets. (Where's this guy's tower?)

(It's… it's in its own world. I hope my friends are okay…)

(Doesn't matter if they are or not. They won't be able to win. It's all up to us,) Vanitas cheerfully reminded Riku.

Within Vanitas's heart, Vanitas displayed a star chart of the worlds he had visited. Riku indicated the location of Yen Sid's world on the chart. In the real world, Vanitas immediately summoned a corridor of darkness and made the trip.

The successfully arrived at Yen Sid's tower. Unfortunately, it was swarming with heartless and nobodies. As in, the creatures were literally clinging to the sides of the tower, and popping in and out of the windows.

Even Vanitas was taken aback by this. (I think… your friends aren't here,) he finally said.

(Y-yeah…) Riku agreed.

Vanitas opened another dark corridor. (I'm going home. If you insist, we can try searching somewhere else tomorrow.)

(Okay…) The image of the overrun tower was burned into Riku's mind. _What had happened?!_ Were his friends okay? Vanitas had said that Xehanort's meetings meant something hadn't gone according to plan, so that should mean there still was hope…

But Vanitas had also said that, ultimately, his friends' efforts were doomed. That Xehanort would foresee anything they would try, and stop them. It hadn't struck Riku before that he was going to have to _watch his friends fail_. The horror of it was overwhelming.

The only thing Riku could do now – for himself, for his friends, or for anyone – was make sure that he and Vanitas succeeded.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Endnote: While writing this section, I mentioned to my sisters that I had thought about having Lea light himself on fire. Their response was an immediate "Yes, do it!" Lol. So, I would like to dedicate this chapter to my lovely sisters who have been so great at giving me feedback on my writing. :)_

 _Also, if anyone is curious, Aqua is using Master Eraqus's keyblade here. Her keyblade and armor were last seen in Xemnas's Chamber of Repose. So far as I know, Xemnas is still hoarding them and talking to them in his weird, creepy way. Aqua would prefer to have her own gear back, but she can manage without it._


	7. Chapter 7

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: My weekend is going to be really busy, so I thought I'd better hurry and get this uploaded now so I don't have to worry about remembering later._

 _I've finally finished dividing the story into chapters – there will be 11 chapters total. I tend to just write in huge chunks, and figure out chapter divides later. I've been aiming for around 5000 words each, but the later ones will be longer since there wasn't a good place to divide the action._

 _I hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

Chapter 7

"I hope you realize how lucky you are to be alive."

Lea tried to crack his eyes open. They hurt. So did everything else, actually. "Just tell me everyone else is okay, and then I'll believe I'm lucky."

"Everyone else has first or second degree burns," Merlin said wryly. "But they do credit you with preventing Organization Thirteen from achieving their objectives."

"So Sora and R—Ventus are okay?"

"Still healing. But safe in our hands, yes."

"Good." Lea sighed deeply and relaxed. "I guess I am lucky, then."

"You're also grounded from all missions until further notice."

Lea laughed weakly. "I kind of figured that part."

Merlin chuckled kindly. "Rest well, Lea."

x-x-x

"Shouldn't we wait until his body is fully healed?" Aqua murmured softly, staring down at Ventus.

The boy in question was laid out on a blanket, on the floor in the vast white hall of the Cornerstone in the hidden basement of Disney Castle. Healing spells had helped, but his face and arms were still reddened by burns.

"My dear, I wish we could, but we cannot afford to wait any longer," Merlin said gently. "We witnessed too many futures where Ventus is made another vessel of darkness. Xehanort is acting quickly, and so must we."

"Are you prepared?" Yen Sid asked Sora, the only other person present in the massive hall.

"I think so. Just tell me what I need to do!" Sora fidgeted with the bandages on his arms. He had been unable to stop picking at his peeling blisters, so Kairi had forced him to wear bandages to protect his healing skin. Kairi was currently either resting or overseeing the healing of the others.

Yen Sid nodded. "First summon the Key to Return Hearts." Once Sora did so with ease, Yen Sid continued, "Let your heart form a connection to it. _Feel_ an awareness of your heart through the blade."

Sora's eyes unfocused in concentration. "I… I think I can feel it. I feel my own heart… and several others inside of me, too."

"Excellent. Now, focus on Ventus's body before you… and try to determine which of the hearts is his."

"Okay…" Sora could feel the four hearts, all swimming around together. But as he tried to include Ventus within his focus, three of the hearts receded. "I… I think I've got it!"

"Excellent again. Now." Yen Sid leaned down to look Sora right in the eyes. "Place the tip of the keyblade to your chest, and hook Ventus's heart with it."

"Okay," Sora said, obediently performing the motion. He hesitated slightly, remembering the last time he had done something like this. _But I'm not going to become a heartless this time! I'm not removing my own heart – just Ven's._ Sora could feel Ventus's heart close to the surface of his chest. He gave a slight push inward with the keyblade and… the heart connected to the keyblade. Sora withdrew the keyblade – a little too quickly – but a small glowing orb remained connected to the key. And Sora felt just fine. Really fine. "I did it! Look!"

"Yes, Sora, well done," said Yen Sid in amusement. "Now, return the heart to Ventus."

Sora bent over, and with great reverence pressed the tip of the keyblade to Ventus's chest. Sora wasn't sure what to do exactly, but it turned out nothing more was necessary. Sora pressed slightly so the tip of the keyblade melted into Ventus's chest, and the heart slipped in of its own accord.

Aqua dropped to her knees on the other side of Ventus, and gently picked up his hand. "Ven? Can you hear me?"

"…Yes. Aqua," came a new, weak voice. Ventus slowly opened his blue eyes and smiled up at his old friend. "I'm back."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas tailed Luxord in silence for several minutes, following him until he entered a moderately-sized gray room with several tables each ringed by chairs. There the blond man sat down… and started playing solitaire.

(Seriously?) Riku sputtered. (I know cards are his gimmick and all, but does he seriously spend all his free time messing around with cards, too?)

(Don't know, don't care,) Vanitas replied. (Time to go. Don't fall into the void!)

That was the only warning Riku got before he was hurtled across the room, his heart traveling the path of the invisible chains. But Riku was better prepared this time, and fought harder to keep himself centered in the path. And Vanitas also put more force into his projection, and so the trip was both quicker and easier.

When Riku entered Luxord's Dive to the Heart, he couldn't help but groan. It was full of cards. Cards! Did this guy not have a life outside of his gambling? Riku summoned his keyblade and swatted at the cards as they passed, mostly out of spite. He was still bitter about getting trapped in a card the last time he'd fought this guy.

When Riku passed through the final portal and landed in the upper layer of Luxord's heart, he could only gape and stare for several long minutes.

He was in a great hall – it could only be a part of some massive castle – that was decorated more elaborately and beautifully than any place Riku had ever seen before. Several massive, crystal chandeliers dangled from the high ceiling to provide illumination. The walls were golden and shimmered, though much of the wall space was covered by large paintings in golden frames. Small tables and shelves around the sides of the rooms displayed pieces of fancy pottery.

And then the people – as elaborate as the room itself was, the people were even more so. Fancy clothes, of a variety of elaborate styles Riku had never seen before. Expensive jewelry adorned the men and women alike. And not a person there looked even a bit dirty or unkempt. This was the highest of high class. The epitome of wealthiness.

And Luxord stood in the middle of it, surrounded by a crowd of fawning admirers. He was very well-dressed too, in a fine gray suit with a cravat and handkerchief of blue silk. He looked utterly content, and showed no signs of having noticed Riku at all.

Other people wandered about the room, some giving Riku brief acknowledgement as they passed. No one acted like Riku looked out of place. Since this was a creation of Luxord's mind, it implied that he really did not care that Riku was here. Riku reluctantly gave up staring at the rich extravagance and tried to open his senses to detect Xehanort's darkness.

He was on too high a level. Riku knew right away that he was going to have to descend deeper into Luxord's heart. It was easy to make the transition when the person's heart-avatar was helping him, but soon enough Riku was going to have to be able to do it all by himself. This seemed like a nice, safe place to practice.

With both Edym and Even, their avatars had led Riku to the proper place by navigating a seemingly random path through their hearts. So Riku started by moving to the edges of the room and checking the doors. All were locked. By the fifth door he tried, Riku began to suspect he was in a trap.

He doubted it was a conscious trap. But it made sense that a person's heart would attempt to defend itself against intruders. To stop people like Xehanort – or even Riku – from gaining access to the deeper, more vulnerable parts of the heart.

So the only question now was: how to override the heart's natural defenses?

Well, Riku had a keyblade. More often than not, the solution to puzzles had been for him to unlock something with it.

Unfortunately, that meant he was going to have to interact with Luxord after all.

As Riku approached Luxord, it quickly became apparent that Luxord had decided to deliberately ignore him. That was just fine with Riku. He didn't want to talk to the other man anyway. Luxord continued chatting with his fanclub, laughing at his own jokes, and ignoring the whispered questions in his ear about Riku's identity.

Riku summoned his keyblade and pointed it at Luxord. Rather than simply unlocking the heart – doing so would turn Luxord into a heartless – Riku tried to make a connection with the man's heart and use it to open a path to the lower levels. There was a lot of resistance, so Riku had to put most of his strength into the magical unlocking. When the keyhole finally gave way, it did so in a flash of blinding light.

Riku found himself falling again. This time, however, there were images of places and people interspersed with the floating cards. Riku felt a lot more optimistic about his target this time. The fall took much longer, too. Finally the exit portal appeared and Riku dove through it.

Luxord was in a gambling house this time. Tables were set up all around a large room, where numerous gentlemen, and some ladies, were occupying themselves with games involving cards, tiles, or contraptions with levers. The people here were not as finely dressed as in the other hall, but they were still well-put together in clearly-expensive clothes. Luxord was again at the center of it all, playing some sort of card game while an extensive group of fans cheered him on.

Riku opened his senses and again searched for Xehanort's heart. It was much, much closer now, and Riku thought he could even detect a path that led to it. Riku cautiously walked the invisible path of darkness, doing his best to keep his feet on it even as he had to dodge various people. The path led directly to a wall, but Riku took a chance and continued going confidently forward.

He passed through the wall like it wasn't even there. The space beyond was dark and foggy, like a part of the Realm of Darkness itself. Riku grinned at his success and continued on, with each step feeling the pulsing wrongness of Xehanort's taint.

"Hey there! Where do you think you're going?"

Riku turned, and saw with surprise that Luxord had followed him out of the casino into the darkness. He looked a little disheveled, and honestly afraid. Riku waved to him. "I have some hunting to do. You don't need to get involved."

Luxord frowned and his shook head at Riku. "I didn't fancy you such a risk-taker. But if you want to survive, you're going to have to learn when to hold and when to fold."

"I know what I'm getting into. It's Xehanort's avatar back there, isn't it?"

"He's _much_ too strong for you, Vanitas," Luxord hissed. "You don't stand a chance!"

"Are you _worried_ about me?" Riku asked in surprise. He couldn't fathom why any of the other seekers would be concerned for Vanitas's welfare.

"I know you're planning something," Luxord confided in a quieter voice. "A move against Xehanort. And I'm all in. But you can't win the game if you're _already dead._ "

 _Ironic statement, that,_ Riku thought in amusement. But to Luxord, he said, "I've beaten several of Xehanort's avatars already. I don't need to destroy it – just weaken it enough so I can put it to sleep."

Luxord's brow crinkled in confusion. "Putting hearts to sleep? How did you obtain such a power?"

Riku tried and failed to give his own name as an answer. So he just said, "Guess."

Luxord did. His eyes widened. "Riku." He smacked his fist into his other palm. "Of course! I had wondered what sleight you had planned with him!" Luxord rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Oh what a game this will be! I didn't like our odds… but you have improved them greatly, Vanitas." He cackled to himself, then his face turned serious and he quickly approached Riku. "I see you don't trust me with your full plan – a wise move that – but I understand enough. I offer you my assistance in fighting the avatar here." With flourish, Luxord offered a hand to shake.

With only slight misgiving, Riku took the hand and shook it. "Thank you," he said automatically.

Luxord raised an eyebrow. "It sounds strange to hear gratitude coming from you, Vanitas."

Riku kicked himself for his slip up as he started walking again. "Don't get used to it. We'll still have to pretend that nothing has changed between us."

"Never you fear. There is no better actor than a good gambler."

x-x-x

In spite of Luxord's fears, the battle against Xehanort was an easy one (though Riku opted not to tell him that). Once they battered the old man unconscious, and Riku sealed his heart into sleep, he gave Luxord his final instructions.

"So the moment the X-Blade appears is the moment of action. I understand." Luxord nodded.

Riku summoned his keyblade to his hand. "If you don't have any other questions, then I'd best be going."

"I don't suppose you'd tell me how many other seekers you've freed so far?"

Riku shook his head. "I'd better not – just in case. You understand."

"Yes, I understand," Luxord said ruefully. "Please forgive me – I am a naturally curious man."

"No problem." Riku prepared to leave, then abruptly aborted. There was still one thing that _he_ hadn't asked. "What's your real name?"

Luxord raised an eyebrow. "Why do you need to know?"

Riku shrugged. "I'm also a curious man."

Luxord laughed. "It's Rould, then. And I'm touched that you care enough to ask."

Riku gave him a quick wave goodbye. "Farewell, Rould. Best of luck to you!"

"And you, too, Vanitas," Luxord-Rould said with a smirk. "Good luck, indeed!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

"We've received distress calls from multiple worlds," Yen Sid told the assembled group grimly. They were all gathered in an audience chamber in Disney Castle. Yen Sid had taken the commanding position at the podium and looked as comfortable and natural there as behind his own desk at his tower.

Seated in chairs around the room were the mouse king himself and his wife, Donald and Goofy, Chip and Dale, and all the human keybearers – with the exception of Lea who was still recovering.

Ventus looked concerned. "Has anyone gone to check things out yet?"

"Not yet," Yen Sid sighed. "I know you're not fully up to speed on current events, Ventus. But our numbers are few. And the last time this happened, we lost one of our number."

"You mean Riku." Ventus bit his lip. "I sort of remember that – from inside Sora's heart – like it happened in an old dream."

"But we can't ignore the calls for help," Aqua countered.

"And we will not," Yen Sid assured her. "But we need to be wise in our response. At the least, we cannot risk having anyone travel solo."

"Okay, so we can pair up." Ventus glanced over to Aqua beside him.

Yen Sid hmmmed thoughtfully. "I appreciate your enthusiasm to help, Ventus. But you are Aqua are still weakened from your respective trials."

"I'm feeling much better, really!" Ventus protested. "Oh and sir… would you please call me Ven?"

Yen Sid smiled and nodded. "Ah, of course. Ven. As you like."

"I suggest we form two teams," Mickey spoke up. "We can send Sora with Aqua and Ven for support. And Kairi can come with me."

"Hey! What about us?" Donald squawked.

"Donald, Goofy – you two will join me as well," Mickey added.

Goofy and Donald both voiced their agreement.

Yen Sid considered it a moment longer before agreeing. "Your plan seems like a balanced division of strengths. Very good. Aqua, you will be in charge of your team. Mickey, you will head yours. Prepare yourselves as you need. Come see me when you are ready, and I will give you your destinations."

"Um, Kairi? Can I talk to you for a second?" Sora asked quietly.

"Of course, Sora." Kairi turned to face him.

"Privately?" Sora pleaded.

Kairi frowned in confusion. "Oh… okay." She followed him as he led her all the way across the room and out into the hallway. Once in the hallway, Sora looked both ways to see if anyone else was around. Then he motioned for Kairi to follow him down the hall.

Kairi held her ground. "Sora, I think this is private enough. Now what is it you need to tell me?"

"Uh, Kairi, I…" Sora wouldn't meet her eyes. "I think you should go back to the Destiny Islands."

"What?" Kairi wasn't sure she'd heard him right. Why would Sora suggest…?

"I want you to go back to the Destiny Islands," Sora said again, in a rush of words. "Please, Kairi?"

Kairi stared at him, appalled. "What, like right now? Why?"

"Please, Kairi."

Kairi took a step back. "I can't go back now. Mickey is counting on me to help him on his mission."

"No, he's not!" Sora snapped. At Kairi's shocked look, he clarified. "We… we don't really _need_ you. Mickey will have Donald and Goofy with him. He'll be safe enough with them. But you… you need to go back home. Before you get hurt again."

Tears were coming to Kairi's eyes now, but she was _angry_. "You! You want me to go home so I won't get _hurt?!_ "

"Yes, exactly!" Sora grinned. "So will you please go, Kairi?"

"No way!" Kairi yelled at him. "I'm not leaving _now!_ I'm not – I'm not going to just _hide_ at home while all the worlds are in danger! How can you ask me that?!"

"Kairi…" Sora looked really worried. "I can't… I can't let you get hurt again. I'm too afraid. With Riku already… with Riku gone, I just… I can't lose anyone else. Okay?"

Kairi shook her head, sending her hair flying. "No. Just… no. I miss Riku, too. And I'm scared, too. But don't you get it Sora? _Nowhere_ is safe now! If Xehanort gets his way, _all the worlds_ will be destroyed. _Everyone_ will die!" She stomped over to him and jabbed a finger in his chest. "I'm _done_ with being left behind. This is _my_ fight, too. I didn't choose to wield a keyblade for _you_. Or for Riku, or for anyone else. I chose it for _me_. This is _my_ fight now, too. And I'm going to help my friends save the worlds." With that, she stomped back to the door to the throne room.

"Kairi…" Sora pled softly.

She ignored him. She wiped her eyes, pulled open the door, and went back to find Mickey for their mission.

X-X-X-X-X-X

When Riku was pulled back to Vanitas's heart, his immediately adjusted his sight so he could see what real-life Vanitas was doing. To his surprise, Vanitas was playing cards with Luxord.

(What? Why are you hanging out with him?) Riku was shocked. (I thought you didn't like interacting with the other seekers!)

(Jealous I found a new friend?) Vanitas snarked. Then he admitted, (He noticed me, and I didn't want to have to think of an excuse to leave and come back again later. What's it to you? I can talk to him if I want to!)

(Of course, you can do what you want. I was just surprised is all.)

Vanitas tossed his hand of cards on the table. "This is boring. I'm out of here."

Luxord just smiled. "You show great promise for the game. You're welcome to join me for another lesson any time. I could use some more competition."

Vanitas snorted and stalked out into the hall.

And ran into Vexen. "I believe you owe me something," the scraggly-haired blond said in his serious voice.

Vanitas shoved past him. "I don't owe you anything."

(The picture!) Riku reminded him. (He wants the proof that Ienzo is okay.)

(Oh.) Vanitas sounded grumpy. The real-life Vanitas stopped and turned back to face Vexen. "Oh yeah – _that_ thing. I haven't got it yet."

Vexen scowled. "I warned you. If you don't have anything to give me, then I have something to report to the master."

(Vanitas! Tell him it's his own fault if he loses out on what he wants because he's too impatient to wait another day or two!)

Vanitas related Riku's words to Vexen. Vexen seethed, but through grit teeth just said, "Very well. But you don't have much longer!" And with that he stalked away.

Vanitas left as well, but as he walked, Riku kept thinking. They needed to find Ienzo, but none of Ansem's assistants or Riku's friends had been anywhere in sight when they had searched Radiant Garden before. It was possible that Ienzo and the others had joined up with Sora and the rest of his team – and if so, they would be sticking closer together. There were too many worlds they could be hiding in – the keybearers had allies scattered everywhere. Riku needed more information on current events. But he couldn't just ask anyone. Luxord seemed friendly enough, but Riku didn't feel confident that Rould had taken back control yet. The only one he was sure about was…

(Uh, Vanitas?) Riku asked tentatively.

(Oh great, what now?)

(We need to talk to Vexen again.)

Vanitas didn't like the idea any more than Vexen clearly did. "What do you want now?" the older man snarled when Vanitas cornered him again.

(Ask him about Xehanort's last meeting. I need some clue about what my friends are up to in order to guess where they are.)

"That last meeting the boss called," Vanitas drawled. "What was it about?"

Vexen's lip curled and he looked like he was going to tell Vanitas off, but instead he replied, "Just another mission gone wrong."

"Any more details?"

"I wasn't on the mission," Vexen replied with a sniff. "Try asking Marluxia or Xigbar if you want to know more."

"I'd rather swallow a firaga," Vanitas deadpanned. He crossed his arms. "They really didn't mention anything else?"

"You know how those meetings go," Vexen gestured dramatically. "All code words and vague phrases, coupled with pithy excuses."

"Fine." Vanitas turned and started away.

"It was Castle Oblivion," Vexen called after him. He shrugged when Vanitas turned back to look at him. "If that means anything to you."

Vanitas made no response to Vexen. (Happy now?) he asked Riku sardonically.

(Castle Oblivion… that would mean… Ventus!) Riku mused.

"Ventus!" Vanitas gasped aloud.

"Ventus?" Vexen inquired, unabashedly curious. "What's that?"

"Nothing!" Vanitas snarled at him. "Just… shup up!" Black smoke poured from Vanitas, forming into a small trio of red-eyed black creatures that skittered about on all fours.

"Fascinating," Vexen mused, his eyes wide, a smile on his face. "But yes… I believe I shall be going now. But I'll expect to hear from you again, _very soon_ , Vanitas _._ " He made a hasty, vaguely dignified retreat.

Vanitas was still fuming. Riku decided it was in his best interest not to bother him right away, so he went back to thinking.

If the Organization's plans had failed, that meant Riku's friends had succeeded. Their plan for Castle Oblivion had been to retrieve Ventus's body and a special key that would enable Sora to restore Ventus's heart. With any luck, Sora and the others had successfully retrieved both, which meant that Ventus had been, or would soon be, revived.

And with the Key to Return Hearts in hand, their next plan would be to restore Roxas, Xion, and Naminé's hearts to new bodies. Riku wasn't sure how long it would take to make new bodies – but Yen Sid had already discussed their intentions to utilize DiZ's research to make bodies for the nobodies out of data. The only other alternative was to try to utilize Vexen's cloning research, which honestly nobody had wanted to touch. Including Even.

So if Riku's friends hadn't already, then they would next be working on creating the data bodies…

(I should make him _eat_ that stupid camera!) Vanitas grumped at Riku. (Speaking of, let's get our kid-stalking over with. Where do you want to look this time? At the castle again?)

(No, let's start with… Twilight Town.)

X-X-X-X-X-X

Kairi was gasping for breath by the time the gigantic heartless finally crumbled to the ground and dissolved into black wisps, piece by piece. She tried to cast Cure on herself but was still too winded. She fished out a potion instead and gulped down the overly sweet concoction.

Mickey jogged over to her. "You doing all right there, Kairi?"

She just nodded in response.

Mickey grinned at her. "You did a great job, Kairi! Don't worry – you get more used to it. Go ahead and rest for a bit if you need to. Donald, Goofy and I will finish scouting around the area.

Kairi felt herself light up at the compliment. _I did a great job!_ she beamed. She didn't realize the king's approval would mean so much to her. But right now, she really needed to hear it.

Sora's doubts were still eating at her, but she kept pushing them away. It didn't matter if she wasn't _as good_ as Sora or Riku or Mickey. The worlds were in great danger. They needed all they help they could get! She just had to keep telling herself that so she wouldn't start doubting herself…

Riku had believed in her. Kairi clung to that. He'd told Sora that Kairi was probably the strongest of them all. He might have just been exaggerating then – he did that sometimes – but the fact that he'd said it at all…

Kairi was really trying to cling to the positive now. After all, despite defeating the giant heartless, their mission to this world was otherwise a failure. This world's resident princess of light had been kidnapped before they had even arrived. The four travelers had emerged from the gummi ship into a castle full of screaming people and swarming heartless, with a massive monster trying to tear apart the castle itself.

Defeating the ravaging heartless was damage control – but still an important part of their duties. Kairi hadn't hesitated to jump into the battle alongside Mickey and his companions. Now that all the heartless were defeated, the remaining inhabitants of this world were safe. But with the princess gone…

Mickey wandered back over to Kairi, breaking her out of her thoughts. "We can't find any more heartless. There's nothing more we can do here for now."

"Will the princess be all right?" Kairi blurted out. "Can we rescue her?"

Mickey sighed. "We know that Xehanort wants the princesses of light for his plan. I think he'll keep Snow White safe. And of course, we'll rescue her if we get the chance. But for now… we don't even know where Xehanort is."

Kairi nodded, looking down at the ground.

Mickey came up and gently patted her arm. "Are you injured at all? If you're doing okay, we'll just go straight to the next world."

"I'm fine." Kairi straightened up with determination. "Let's hurry. We don't have time to waste!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Just in case someone might be watching Vanitas, Riku had him portal to the train station in Twilight Town first. From there, Riku gave directions across rooftops to the old mansion, outside the city walls.

(There's something wrong about this place,) Vanitas said as he studied the mansion.

(Wrong how?) Such a statement worried Riku.

Vanitas shook his head, making the scene sway. (This location… it has deep ties to the darkness. More than the rest of the town.) Vanitas dashed forward the rest of the distance to the structure. (It's just… strange, that's all. It reminds me of the other places Xehanort likes to haunt.)

(Maybe this was his house originally,) Riku mused, highly disturbed by the thought.

(So… I break down the door?)

(No!) Riku protested. He suspected Vanitas had only asked the question to annoy him. (Nothing that would make a loud noise! We can't be seen by my friends. Try the front door first. If it's locked, then check the windows.)

(Fine, fine. Bossy.) Vanitas complied and quietly tried the door. It was unlocked.

Riku felt his imaginary heart pounding. He was on high alert, both hoping and dreading to run into his friends. As much as he would love to have Vanitas give them the news that he was okay… he had already imagined how it would turn out.

Vanitas would say, _Don't worry about Riku – he's living in my heart and helping me undermine Xehanort's power._

Then, whoever Vanitas told would pass the news along to everyone else. Including Sora. Especially Sora.

Then, during the final battle with Xehanort, Sora would blurt out, _You'll never win, Xehanort! Even Vanitas is on our side!_

And then Xehanort would kill Vanitas, and Riku with him. And then Xehanort would summon the X-Blade and destroy everything.

Vanitas, in the meantime, was slowly inspecting the insides of the derelict mansion. (This place is a dump. And likely to fall on our heads while we're in it! You're sure your friends would be here?)

(There's a secret basement. The entrance is upstairs.)

(Go upstairs to go downstairs? Now that's logical,) Vanitas grumbled. Nevertheless, he complied with Riku's directions. Riku walked him through the trick to reveal the white staircase, and Vanitas descended it without hesitation.

(I'm not sure we're still in Twilight Town,) Vanitas observed. (This place feels… different.)

(Deeper in the darkness?)

(No. Like it's… somewhere beyond either darkness or light. It feels… weird.) Vanitas suddenly dove against the wall. (I hear voices.)

(Let's see if we've gotten lucky!) Riku waited impatiently for Vanitas to peer around the corner.

Cid was there. Riku caught the sound of his voice first. Then he heard Merlin speaking in response. The talked back and forth for a minute before leaving the room. Vanitas waited until things were completely silent before creeping around the corner.

The massive computer was there, looking mostly as Riku remembered it. There seemed to be a few additions, however, a la Cid. Large boxes and lots of cables. The doorway to the left was open, likely because of the mass of thick cables now running into it.

Vanitas crouched down well below eye level and peered around the doorway. The room beyond was full of equipment and smaller computers piled all over several large tables. A dozen monitors were simultaneously displaying different information. Cid and Merlin were inside, focusing intently on one of the monitors. A couple other people that Riku didn't know were nearby. But also in the room was…

(There he is!) Riku exulted. (Quick, the camera!)

Vanitas drew the camera from his magical storage pocket, and fumbled with it a bit. He accidentally took a picture of himself. He growled softly and tried again, snapping several awkward shots of Ienzo. (Stupid piece of junk! How do you get it to focus!) Vanitas took several more photos while cursing the camera.

(That's got to be good enough. Even if they're all blurry.)

(You don't have to tell me twice.) Vanitas summoned a dark corridor and slipped through it, before Riku could tell him to sneak back outside first.

Vanitas aimed directly for Vexen's lab; he was clearly _very done_ with this mission. Without a word, he shoved the camera in Vexen's face.

Vexen took the camera with no reaction but a raised eyebrow. He activated the camera's display screen and paged through each photo. Then Vexen deliberately deleted each photo, one by one. His expression remained stony, the perfect poker face. He set the emptied camera down and turned his gaze on Vanitas. "I believe there is nothing more to be discussed."

"Great," Vanitas snapped. "And you won't yap to Xehanort?"

"I have nothing to discuss – with _anyone_."

"Fantastic," Vanitas snarked. "Stay out of my way, then," he offered as a farewell on his way out the door.

(Are we finally done with this?) Vanitas hissed at Riku.

(Yes. I think he'll keep his word.)

(Finally!) Vanitas sounded like he wanted the shred something. (Let's go assault another vessel.)

(Vanitas, remember you can't attack them anymore,) Riku warned him, anxious that Vanitas would ignore him and do it anyway. (Xehanort said–)

(I remember what he said!) Vanitas bellowed with such wrath that it knocked Riku's avatar over and broke his connection to Vanitas's real vision. "I'm not stupid, you little heart worm!"

Riku opened and closed his mouth, not sure how to respond to his new nickname. He chose to ignore it. "I'm just trying to look out for your safety."

"Well you can shove your concern! Are we moving ahead with your plan or not?!"

 _My plan. Not Vanitas's plan._ The tiny admission made Riku smile. He was glad again that Vanitas couldn't see it. "I'm ready. Let's see – the ones left are…"

"Marluxia, Larxene, Xigbar, and Saïx. And that's not counting the ones that are definitely Xehanort," Vanitas said.

"I'm not risking those. We already decided," Riku reminded him. "So let's see…"

"Don't think too hard about it." Vanitas interrupted Riku's thinking with a shove. "Just pick one at random."

"Larxene then." Riku didn't know much about her. She had fallen to Sora in Castle Oblivion, but Sora remembered nothing about it. All Riku's information came from Lea, and Lea clearly had a strong dislike for the woman. Of course, knowing Lea, he might have justly deserved the other nobody's ire.

"Oh, yay, the lightning witch. If she attacks me, I'm totally going to defend myself. Just so you know…"

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Endnote: I just want to note that I spent a lot of time considering what name to use for Luxord. I opted for Rould because of its similarity to Roald, which is a real name._

 _Also, I want to acknowledge that Luxord's dialogue is ridiculous. The game writers clearly had too much fun working in every gambling-based reference they could think of. I almost regret writing him in that style because my own lines make me groan… oh well, at least he's in character._


	8. Chapter 8

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: It's been a hard week. I wanted to get this up sooner, but I couldn't even work on it. I'm not sick or anything, I'm just having trouble focusing on stuff. I probably need to clean my house or something so I'll feel better. Things are getting cluttered, and that always makes things harder for me._

 _But anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it!_

Chapter 8

Sora grimly battled the heartless, bouncing off the walls and spinning around posts the way he'd learned during his ill-fated Trial of Mastery. Wiping out the heartless only got easier and easier the longer he was at it. Unfortunately, it was the only thing that was getting easier…

He couldn't stop worrying about Kairi. What if Mickey wasn't fast enough to save her? What if Donald's magic and Goofy's protection weren't enough? If she wouldn't go home, Sora should at least have stayed by her side, to keep her safe. Sure she had a keyblade, but that didn't guarantee safely. _It wasn't enough for Riku…_

"Hey!"

Sora abruptly stumbled to a halt, stopped by a keyblade held longways in front of his face. "W-what?"

"You can't just run off like that!" Aqua snapped at him. "What if you were ambushed? We're a _team_ and you have to _think like a team!_ "

"But, I'm fine," Sora protested.

" _This time,_ " Aqua growled. "You've been fighting solo too long. You're too used to it. You can't take your companions' safety for granted, or your own!" Aqua jabbed her keyblade off to the side to point to Ventus. "Ven got swarmed by heartless. He could have used a hand. And where we you? _Nowhere in sight!_ He's not at full strength yet! And neither am I. _You_ are supposed to be here to back us up! _We're_ not supposed to be the ones running after you, trying to keep up!"

Sora hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry…" he said.

"Don't be sorry," Aqua snapped. "We don't have time for sorry. Just do better. Keep Ven or me within sight, at _all_ times. _Got it?_ "

"Yes… yes, Master Aqua." Sora flushed in embarrassment.

"Good." Aqua stalked back over to Ventus, verified that he was doing sufficiently well, then waved at Sora. "This courtyard seems clear now. You've been here before, so lead the way. But don't run too far ahead!"

"Yes, Master Aqua," Sora replied meekly, then dashed up to the castle gates to Beast's Castle.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas found Larxene inside the Castle Never Was dining room. She was luckily sufficiently distracted with her food to not see her stalker. Vanitas was getting much better at doing the transfer subtly. He only had to summon his keyblade and point it in Larxene's general direction. With a blast of will, Vanitas sent Riku flying across the invisible chains to his next target.

Larxene's dive was surprisingly empty. Riku panicked briefly, thinking that he must have missed. But eventually, here and there he spotted ghostly images of a girl with blond hair. There were no other clues to her past. Then the exit portal came up and Riku slipped through.

He found himself in a laboratory, not unlike Vexen's. Riku had not expected that. But this one was full of small tubes, vials, and boxes with confusing labels. More of a chemistry science than Vexen's biological science? Riku wasn't certain. But the owner of the lab clearly liked things neat, orderly, and precise. And the owner was nowhere in sight.

Riku wandered the hallway outside the laboratory, checking all the doors. He found several more laboratories just like the first. Then he found a massive library, and spent a fair amount of time looking between the shelves. There still was no one around. Riku was getting concerned.

 _Is she avoiding me?_ Riku wondered. It was a strong possibility. _But if I can't find her avatar, how can I get to the lower portions of her heart…?_

Riku spent more time wandering. It felt like ages, but was likely no more than an hour. He still failed to locate another being. Just rooms full of knowledge or research. And time was running out. Assuming Vanitas actually _could_ wait a full two hours…

 _The avatar isn't actually her heart,_ Riku mused. _It's just a representation that lets her interact with memories, or visitors in her heart. The avatar is probably more of the mind than the heart, actually._ Everything around Riku – the rooms, the books – were all Larxene's heart. So with that logic, Riku didn't actually need the avatar in order to unlock a path.

With nothing else to try, Riku summoned his keyblade and mentally searched for a connection in this space to Larxene's deeper heart. It took several minutes of searching, but he finally thought he'd found what he needed. Riku willed the keyhole into existence and then unlocked it.

Riku fell into another dive. He was descending much faster, and the space was littered with images. The pictures went by too quickly to be seen. Riku only got glimpses of a woman with long blond hair, in a variety of places with other people.

Then Riku landed, and he knew he was in the right place. It was the same scene as before, but it reeked of darkness. Mold – or maybe darkness itself – covered all the walls of the laboratory. The open beakers contained dark liquids that reeked of corruption. Riku opened his awareness and once again found the path that led him to Xehanort's heart. He followed the road through the laboratory and into a corrupted version of the massive library. And there he found Larxene.

She looked… beautiful. It was odd – she was dressed plainly, with no makeup or adornment. Her hair was pulled back in a long, unremarkable ponytail. But there was a radiance in her face that her nobody was lacking. She looked _alive_ and surprisingly pure. She wasn't quite a princess of heart, but she was really, really close. No wonder Xehanort had targeted her.

And she looked terrified. She recoiled from Riku. "How did you find me here?" she shrieked. "Please, don't hurt me!" She bolted from him and hid behind a bookcase. "Leave me alone! I've done nothing to you!"

"I don't want to hurt you." Riku tried to approach her slowly.

"No! Stay away!" Larxene's somebody dashed away further into the library.

Riku gave up any thoughts of pursuit. She was too frightened to reason with. Riku felt bad for her, but he remembered that he was in Vanitas's form. How could he possibly convince her that he was trustworthy? Instead, he turned aside and continued following the invisible path to where Xehanort's heart lurked. He stepped through a bookshelf and the library wall itself, and found himself once again in a void outside. And there, once again, the creepy old man was waiting for him.

The battle was harder than the last few had been. This Xehanort was clearly stronger, and nearly got the best of Riku a couple of times. He had gotten complacent from his other battles. Riku cast healing magic on himself and soldiered on, at last succeeding in making the old man crumple to the ground.

After sealing the parasitical heart to sleep, Riku took a moment to try to find Larxene's somebody, but she was nowhere in sight. He knew he needed to get back to Vanitas, but he just felt really, really bad about leaving the woman in such a terrified state. He hadn't even gotten the chance to explain his plan to her – to let her know that she was now free. Well… mostly free.

But Riku finally gave up. It couldn't be helped. Once Xehanort was defeated for good, they would have plenty of time to help the former vessels recover and readjust to life. Riku drew his keyblade and summoned a path to lead back up to the upper part of Larxene's heart.

The only thing he took with him was a name – the name he had seen written on many of the beakers and documents arranged neatly in the labs.

Arleen.

X-X-X-X-X-X

In only a day, Xehanort had captured three of the seven princesses of heart. Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice had all been taken. Aurora had remained, only by virtue of Maleficent surprisingly coming to her defense. Apparently the evil fairy still considered Organization Thirteen her enemies. Meanwhile, Sora had arrived in time to help Prince Adam (formerly the Beast) and the castle staff defend Belle. Kairi and Mickey had helped fight off the assault in Agrabah. And Sora, Aqua, and Ventus had traveled to a new world where the Organization had evidently been targeting both a young queen and her sister princess.

That last discovery had generated much discussion. It called into question one of their fundamental assumptions: that there were only seven princesses of heart.

"There is a prophecy that Xehanort seems to be drawing many assumptions from," Yen Sid explained. "The prophecy speaks of thirteen darknesses and seven lights being necessary to recreate the X-Blade. It was Xehanort who originally put the idea of seeking the seven lights – the princesses of heart – into Maleficent's mind. But I have never come across any evidence that suggests the number of pure hearts is _limited_ to seven."

"So there could easily be more. One of the young women on the new world could be another princess of heart," Aqua mused.

"Yes, precisely."

"So Xehanort doesn't need to kidnap me this time," Kairi said slowly. "And he doesn't need to stick to the worlds we're familiar with. He could find a completely new set of seven pure hearts."

That realization brought down a heavy silence on the group.

"Wow. That really makes all our efforts feel futile, doesn't it?" Ventus muttered.

"We've gotta keep trying anyway," Mickey said emphatically. "As long as there's still anything we can do, we have to keep going!"

"Maybe it's time to consider contingency plans," Dilan suggested coldly. "What will we do if Xehanort _does_ succeed in kidnapping seven of these pure princesses."

Sora protested automatically, but Yen Sid grimly agreed. "Xehanort has multiple layers of plans in place. We must do the same. Merlin and I will try to seek more guidance in visions of the future, but… we must not rely on visions alone. I believe we have had some victories over Xehanort because he relied too much on what he _could_ see… and he did not give sufficient thought to what he _could not_ see."

"How can you know what you can't see?" Sora asked, puzzled.

"Exactly my point," Yen Sid replied, which did nothing for Sora's confusion.

"How's Lea doing?" Kairi asked, noting the red-head's continued absence.

"He is nearly recovered," Yen Sid assured her. "He should be up and about by tomorrow. The good fairies have been overseeing his final… cosmetic treatments."

"You should have left him bald," Dilan snickered. "Serves him right for pulling a stunt like that!"

"If he does it again, the fairies may be less forgiving," Yen Sid said, with a half smile. He then changed modes back to fully serious. "Now, let us turn to our attention to our final matter of importance. How is the development of the data bodies proceeding?"

The question was mostly directed to Ienzo, who had volunteered himself for the project. His familiarity with the work of Ansem the Wise, Even, and Vexen was an asset to the new task. "The bodies are completed and appear to be stable. We placed them in sleeping pods and have been running our final tests. I believe… we can proceed with the next phase any time."

"Make your final preparations," Yen Sid commanded. "We don't have time to waste. These three individuals may be able to give us an advantage in countering Xehanort's plans."

"How long do you believe we have left… before Xehanort makes his move?" Aeleus inquired.

Yen Sid closed his eyes and shook his head. "At the speed at which he is proceeding? _Days_ at most. I fear it may be less. We must proceed with all haste."

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Heeeey, Vanitas…" Demyx walked into Vanitas's room with his hands held up defensively. "Don't attack me please."

"What do you want?" Vanitas snarled. He'd been resting in a chair – he couldn't really sleep, so he saw no reason to use the bed.

"I just, um… since you're out of the loop, you might want to know… Xehanort is collecting princesses now," Demyx told him in a drawn-out ramble.

"Princesses?" Vanitas almost snapped out "why should I care?" but then he realized what such news really meant. "Princesses of Heart, you mean?"

"Yeah, that's it! He's got several of them, locked in the dungeons." Demyx rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That's all. Just thought you'd want to know."

(You should thank him for the information,) Riku prompted into Vanitas's mind.

Vanitas responded to his permanent heart-house guest with a snarl. To Demyx he said, awkwardly, "Your information is… useful. I… appreciate it."

Demyx laughed awkwardly. "Um, don't mention it… I'll just be going now." He backed out the doorway, and then fled down the hall.

(Good enough,) Riku told Vanitas in approval.

(I don't see why it matters,) Vanitas groused back at him.

(It makes him more willing to give us help in the future.)

(I don't need his help! I don't need anybody's help!)

Riku made no reply. The silence made Vanitas just as angry as if Riku _had_ pointed out Vanitas's hypocrisy.

Vanitas was afraid that Riku was getting to understand him too well, to the point where he could see right through all of his posturing and bluffing. To see what Vanitas was actually feeling. The thought terrified him.

And at the same time, it was what Vanitas desperately wanted. To be seen, to be understood. But _Riku_ wasn't the one that Vanitas wanted to do the understanding. Vanitas wanted _Ventus_. He wanted his other half – the part of him that was able to feel and comprehend emotions like hope, trust, and love… And maybe once Vanitas was a complete being again, he could finally understand the mysterious bond of friendship – that strange thing that tied Ventus to his companions, and Riku to his. That contradictory state of being that made a person simultaneously weak and strong. Something that Vanitas had only experienced as an outsider observing others. Xehanort didn't believe in friendship. He identified it as a source of weakness, and so discarded it. Xehanort had no tolerance for any sort of weakness.

(I think I want to go after Marluxia next,) Riku spoke up casually. (If you're rested enough now.)

"I'm fine," Vanitas snapped back at Riku, belatedly realizing that he'd said it aloud. He mentally kicked himself for the slip up. He really _wasn't_ feeling well, but he wasn't going to tell Riku that. Riku was oozing with sympathy enough as it was; Vanitas couldn't handle any more.

Vanitas made a fist. His hand trembled slightly. He took a deep breath and tried again. His hand was steady now. Even with Riku's support, he was still fading. Vanitas wondered if this was happening to Ventus, too, or if it was just him. Was it because he was a being of artificial darkness, or because he had too little heart of his own?

Too many questions. Zero answers.

Vanitas made a dark portal that landed him directly on top of Marluxia's greenhouse. He didn't want a confrontation, but he couldn't afford to waste time. Once Xehanort had seven pure lights, he was going to summon the X-Blade – whether the keybearers were present or not. Although the crazy old man did love his theatrics, Vanitas wouldn't count on him delaying his plan just for the sake of summoning an audience.

Vanitas spotted the pink-haired vessel tending to some flowers or something in one of the central chambers. Vanitas summoned and aimed his keyblade through the glass ceiling that he stood on. (Don't screw up!) Vanitas told Riku by way of encouragement, and then he sent the boy's heart on its flight.

As soon as he guessed Riku must have made it, Vanitas summoned another dark corridor and departed. He really couldn't afford a fight with Marluxia right now. He felt disturbingly certain that, if it came to it, he'd lose. Maybe some more rest would help him. He could even try the bed this time.

Riku would be safe enough where he was until Vanitas could return for him.

x-x-x

As Riku plummeted down through the vertical corridor into Marluxia's heart, he was doing some quick thinking. This dive would land him in the uppermost layer of the heart – which thus far had never been the correct place for him to be. He would definitely still need to go deeper to reach Xehanort's heart. Which raised the question – was there any reason that he _should_ stop in the upper layer first?

With the first few of the seekers, the upper layer had allowed him a chance to interact and get acquainted with their avatars first. And even gain their help. But the last few had been uncooperative. It seemed likely to be a pattern. The vessels who still behaved the most human had the most cooperative inner avatars. But those vessels who acted the most remorselessly villainous… had unstable avatars. And the original person they had been might have even opted to knowingly serve Xehanort. Maybe it would be for the best if Riku stopped trying to explain his plan to them.

But Riku still intended to do his part to free them from Xehanort's control. They deserved the chance to make the right choice. And besides, it might help add some confusion to Xehanort's side during the final battle.

So when the red exit portal came up below Riku, he dodged to the side to avoid it.

The dive didn't like that. The void Riku floated within tried to cast him out entirely. He was forced to summon his keyblade, and very _very_ quickly seek the connection to Marluxia's heart. He felt like he was wrestling with a hurricane to get the keyhole to appear and unlock, but finally he managed it and began plummeting again, faster than before.

Marluxia's lower dive was choked with heartless. Probably not a good sign. Riku was forced to use magic along with his keyblade to clear them out of his way quickly enough. He took a few hits anyway. Nothing serious… but he only had his magic to heal himself with. He had no mentally-created potions or ethers to fall back on.

At last Riku exited the dive and found himself back on solid ground, in a spot thankfully clear of heartless. He was able to catch his breath and cast a healing spell on himself to ease his weariness.

He couldn't linger, however. The place he had landed in appeared to be a world in the act of being torn apart by darkness.

The sky and ground were equally dark. The few remnants of buildings were in pieces – the rest of them were slowly being pulled into a whirlpool of darkness in the sky. The wind shrieked and the ground groaned as it cracked and crumbled. But whatever people had lived in this place were already gone.

Riku opened his senses to seek for Xehanort – to his dismay, the alien heart seemed to be residing directly in the direction of the worst destruction. Of course, it made sense – the fall of this world had probably been Xehanort's fault.

"Ven! Ven! You're still okay!"

Riku turned in surprise to see a young man running at him. His clothes were tattered and his hair covered in dust and debris. The lighting was poor, but his hair did look faintly pink.

Young Marluxia actually grabbed Riku… in a hug. "Whatever he told you, it's not my fault! I didn't want this to happen!" He released Riku and then tried to tug him by his hand. "Come on! We've got to get out of here!"

Riku resisted the pull. "Sorry, I can't leave yet. I've got something I need to do first."

Marluxia dropped Riku's hand and backed away. He stared at him in horror. "No… you're not Ventus. You're the monster!" Marluxia raised his hand and summoned a keyblade – _a keyblade?!_ "Die, monster!"

And with that, Riku ended up in a desperate fight for his life against young Marluxia, who had a keyblade for some reason. And he was actually pretty good. He kept using magic-attack combos that Riku had never seen before. Marluxia had clearly been trained to use that weapon. But _how_ and _when?!_ Riku wasn't used to fighting other keybearers. He had to resort to every trick he had – slipping through the shadows to dodge quickly, shielding and deflecting as often as he could, and tossing out dark firagas as often as he could manage.

At least, Marluxia slumped to the ground, unconscious. Riku dropped down next to him, utterly exhausted. And he still had Xehanort to deal with. Riku grimaced. He was briefly tempted to seal Marluxia to sleep first, to ensure he wouldn't be interrupted… but that was likely to go badly in the long run. After all, _this_ was the part of Marluxia that he _wanted_ in control. Riku couldn't really fault the man for wanting to kill Vanitas. It was pretty reasonable, after all.

Once Riku had recovered enough strength to cast magic again, he opted for a powerful sleep spell on Marluxia instead of healing himself. Once he felt more assured that Marluxia wouldn't be bothering him for a while, Riku lay down and entered his sleep-like state for a few minutes. It really helped. After a bit, he was ready to cast curaga on himself. After a few minutes more, he felt his strength recovered enough to move on. Xehanort was still waiting, after all. He needed to defeat the old man and seal his heart before Marluxia woke up and tried to kill him again.

Riku stood slowly and then began cautiously moving toward the invisible ribbon of a trail that would lead him to Xehanort's heart. Once on the path, Riku didn't dare depart from it. Chunks of building larger than his head were flying around now. The world's destruction had been moving slower than life, but the closer Riku got to Xehanort, the more it was speeding up to real time.

Fortunately, this narrow path protected him from the destruction. A large chunk of a building flew right through Riku's body. He shuddered even though he felt nothing from it. The ground below him warped and cracked and finally broke away completely. The remnants of this world were sucked up into the dark whirlpool and vanished. Riku was walking on nothing, surrounded by nothing. Riku remembered, with guilt, that Sora had watched their own home destroyed like this. Riku had been long gone when it had happened and so had never watched the destruction of a world before.

Riku realized, with a pang, that Marluxia had likely seen his own world torn apart and swallowed by darkness. It seemed too terrible of a thing to wish on anyone. Riku himself hadn't destroyed his own world on purpose. He'd only wished to leave – he didn't know what the consequences would be of opening the door.

As Riku reached Xehanort's heart, the void transitioned into a dark, ruined tower. It looked identical to the one he had seen first in Vanitas's heart. Riku suspected it was not by coincidence.

Xehanort landed a sharp blow on Riku before he noticed him. But Riku countered with a quick strike, and followed up with dark firaga. Xehanort stumbled back, giving Riku a chance to heal before charging ahead for a multiple keyblade strike on the old man.

Oddly enough, this Xehanort succumbed quickly. Riku was grateful for that – he was still tired from fighting Marluxia – but he was starting to question the difference in battles between hearts. Riku sealed Xehanort first, the settled down on the stone floor to rest and think.

What did it mean that some of Xehanort's avatars were stronger than others? Had some been in place longer, and had lost strength with time? Or would the opposite be true – the longer the parasite heart was in place, the stronger it became?

Xehanort seemed to like conserving strength. Most of the time, when he sent his vessels on missions, it was singly. Sora had told Riku that he had only fought the Organization members one at a time. It was less common to even _see_ multiple at once. Of course, Xehanort had sent _all_ of them after Riku, but that had been an exception. They had known that Riku had a history of thwarting the Organization…

So maybe it made sense that Xehanort only made his heart copies as strong as they needed to be. Those vessels who were more likely to try to fight back would be inflicted with stronger Xehanort avatars. And those who were less likely to fight – those who had given up hope, perhaps – they were given a weaker jailer. It seemed possible, at any rate. From what Riku could recall, most of the Xehanorts had been at a similar strength. Only Vexen's and Marluxia's had been noticeably weaker, and Larxene's noticeably stronger. Xehanort had blackmailed Vexen with Ienzo, and so Vexen had not been offering any resistance. Marluxia had seen his world destroyed, probably by Xehanort. That would likely be enough to make anyone lose hope of fighting back. And Larxene… well, Riku didn't know enough about her to make any real guesses. But if she had enough natural power to compare to a princess of heart, that would surely make her more capable of fighting back against Xehanort. And so, she would need a stronger Xehanort to hold her back.

Riku stood up quickly. Time was passing. Marluxia would reawaken soon, and he needed to get back to Vanitas. He could rest more later. He summoned his keyblade and opened the path to launch himself back upward. He was more than ready to get out of this heart.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"I remember this place!" Sora exclaimed, gazing around the white chamber in wonder. "I woke up, and apparently a year had passed, and everyone at home had forgotten about me!"

"Yeah, that was pretty strange," Kairi mused, giving him a nudge. "I guess it must have been once you got all your memories back that I finally started remembering you."

"Yeah… Uh, sorry about not going back to Destiny Islands with you like I had promised," Sora said sheepishly. He still hadn't said anything about his argument with Kairi.

"It's fine. I know you couldn't leave Riku behind," Kairi said with a smile. She hadn't brought up their argument either. It was easier for now to pretend it hadn't happened. But she still felt on edge around Sora because of it.

"Come on! Less yapping!" Lea said, gesturing flamboyantly at the three giant egg pods set up in the white chamber. "We've got people waiting on you!"

"Right." Sora summoned the Key to Return Hearts and approached the first pod. He gave the pod a tap with the keyblade, and it blossomed open like a flower bud. Inside floated a young man who looked so much like Ventus and yet wasn't. "Here we go, Roxas," Sora said softly. "I hope you're ready for this." Sora pointed the tip of the keyblade to his chest and – considerably quicker than the last time – withdrew a golden, shining orb. Roxas's heart. Despite how brief his life had been, his heart still looked as bright and whole as any other. Sora gently raised the keyblade to Roxas's chest and pushed the heart in. The orb melted in like it belonged there, and Roxas's body slowly floated downward until it was standing. Then his knees buckled, but Lea was right there to steady him. Sora stepped back to give Lea space. It was a bemusing feeling to Sora – to finally, truly have his nobody in front of him. Aside from the mental battle and a few ghostly images, Sora had never been able to properly meet Roxas.

Roxas's eyes opened and he took in the scene. He noticed the red hair almost immediately. "Axel… you're here."

"I promised you, didn't I? I'd always be here to bring you back." Lea was grinning widely. He didn't bother correcting Roxas on his name. "I have to keep my promises."

Roxas jabbed Lea in the chest and said warningly, "If you ever set yourself on fire again, I will kill you."

Lea laughed ruefully. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to worry you…"

"That's _twice_ now I've watched you do it!" Roxas snapped. "I'm serious! Enough is enough, you dope!" Roxas gave him a tight hug. "No more dying. It's not allowed. Got it memorized?"

Everyone laughed at that, except Lea. "It's not cool anymore when _everyone_ is saying it," he complained. But then he joined in the next round of ensuing laughter.

"Okay, next one," Sora said, moving to the second pod while Lea was working on helping Roxas shakily walk over. Sora opened the second pod, and gazed briefly on the dark-haired girl levitating within. "I'm sorry I don't remember you at all, Xion," Sora murmured softly. Then with his special key, he repeated the procedure of withdrawing Xion's heart and transferring it to the girl's new body.

Xion awoke quickly, with a startled gasp. Lea and Roxas were right on hand to steady her. "Roxas! Axel! You're back! We're all back!" She started to cry. "I couldn't believe it could happen! That we could really all be back together again!"

"I can't believe I forgot you!" Lea said, giving her a hug. "I hope you can forgive me!"

Sora smiled and stepped aside to let the trio have their happy reunion. It panged his heart to see it, the three of them together. Him, Kairi, and Riku… Riku should have been here too, to see it. It was only thanks to Riku that they had been reminded of Xion at all. Even after Riku had encountered her in Sora's heart, he still hadn't been able to recall her name. But when he asked Lea about her, their attempts to remember between them had been enough to start reconnecting the memories about her that had been torn away when she had ceased to be.

Now there was just one nobody left to revive. Sora tapped the egg, and it bloomed open to reveal Naminé wearing her trademark white dress and her long blond hair that was so different from Kairi's.

"You still need to apologize to her, you know," a feminine voice whispered in Sora's ear.

He spun to see who had spoken, but no one was there. "What was that…?"

"What was what?" asked Kairi.

"Nevermind," Sora said with a forced grin. "Are you ready for this?"

"Yes. It's time for Naminé to have her own life." Kairi walked up to the pod, beside Sora. "I'm ready."

With some reluctance, Sora raised the keyblade and touched it to Kairi's chest. He was a lot more worried about performing this procedure on someone besides himself. Sora had actually begged Yen Sid earlier to transfer Naminé himself, but he had declined. Not everyone had the power to use this keyblade, he said. The fact that Sora had so many hearts sheltered inside his own was proof of his ability to use it. He was the only one who was guaranteed to be able to make it work.

So, with no small amount of worry, Sora opened his heart to Kairi's, focusing until he could detect two hearts within his friend. He couldn't tell which one to retrieve. But as with Ventus and the others, one heart seemed to reach toward the key while the other pulled away. Sora carefully hooked the closer heart with the key, and drew it out.

Kairi let out a little squeal, which made Sora momentarily panic – but he soon realized it was just her reaction of awe at seeing Naminé's heart. "It's so pretty," Kairi said, looking on in wonder. She reached out to touch it, then thought better of it. "We shouldn't keep her waiting any longer."

Sora agreed. He approached the sleeping girl and carefully transferred the heart to her chest. Naminé's blue eyes opened almost immediately. She looked down at Sora and Kairi and smiled fondly. She seemingly controlled her own descent to the ground and stood without any sign of weakness, unlike the other two nobodies who needed support. "It's good to be back," she told them, in a very familiar voice.

"It's good to see you again," Kairi agreed. "Thank you again for all your help before!"

"You're welcome." Naminé smiled easily. "I hope I can be a help in your current challenges, too."

"Have you been able to see everything that's been happening?" Kairi asked.

"Yes." Naminé nodded. "I hope you don't mind I've been watching."

Sora squirmed inwardly at the thought of Naminé being privy to his argument with Kairi. He said nothing of it, though, and instead asked, "How do your powers work? Can you tell if Riku is okay?"

Naminé bit her lip. "Riku is… _not_ okay. His heart was separated from his body. Normally I would be able to trace his heart, but it's been… shrouded, somehow."

"But… he isn't dead?" Sora persisted.

"He's not dead," Naminé confirmed. "I'm sure of that much, at least."

"Thank you, Naminé!" Sora gave her a spontaneous hug, which surprised her. "I'm so glad to know that! At least… we can get Riku back."

Naminé tentatively returned the hug, like she was uncertain of how the process worked. "I'll do whatever I can to help."

"I know you will, Naminé!" Kairi joined in the hug from outside, grabbing Sora with one arm and Naminé with the other. "No matter what happens next, we're all going to stick together!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _End note: I just need to say that I don't have anything against Sora. I really do like him! But based on my understanding of his character, it seemed to make sense that he'd run into some trouble with the others with his attitude of "I can protect everyone and I will do it all by myself!" And uh… his personality is also inspired a bit by my play style. I pretty much ignore Donald and Goofy. If they help me, great, if not… oh well. And I never heal them. They die a lot. I guess I play Sora as a big jerk? Haha, oops. :)_

 _But anyway, Sora is very protective of Kairi. And I figure that losing Riku would make Sora even more anxious to keep Kairi safe at all costs. But Kairi wouldn't like that. She's got her own keyblade, after all! And she wants to avenge Riku, too. So… inevitable conflict there. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually. ;)_


	9. Chapter 9

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: I'm so sorry it took me longer to get this posted! I got sick again, and I had family visiting this week, which used up most of my free time. I hope being sick won't delay chapter 10, but I can't guarantee anything. I'll just do my best!_

 _We're gearing up for the end now! Just two more chapters to go._

 _I hope you enjoy!_

Chapter 9

Riku sensed, rather than saw, the flicker of darkness that indicated his host going through a dark corridor. He quickly roused himself from his sleep-state and verified that no one was showing any interest in him.

He was still in Marluxia's heart. He was not certain how long it had been. He had expected to wait for a while, anyway, and so had scoped out a safe-ish place to hide and rest.

The uppermost layer of the heart was a pleasant, simple town inhabited by pleasant, simple people. Riku guessed it was made from a happier memory of the same town that he'd seen destroyed in the lower level of this heart. The buildings and styles seemed much like Radiant Garden, although the layout was different. And there were many more trees. So far, Riku hadn't seen the avatar of Marluxia again, but he didn't want to take any chances. He'd actually stooped to raiding someone's clothes line to get a coat and hood to cover up his distinctive armor and mask. Luckily for him, hoods were common enough that no one thought to question his appearance. And once safely disguised, Riku had slept, waiting for Vanitas to retrieve him.

But now, the real-life Marluxia was on the move. Probably on a mission. Which meant Riku would be stuck here for the duration. The prospect irked Riku. While he didn't want to risk getting ambushed by the avatar of Marluxia, the thought of waiting here in ignorance overrode his concerns. Riku settled back into his safe spot and made the conscious effort to shift his awareness to be able to see through Marluxia's eyes.

It took a bit more effort than with Vanitas, but Riku was able to make it work. Now before him, he saw a different world with even more trees than the world of Marluxia's past. Marluxia was approaching a massively tall, spindly tower that was concealed in a forest glen. A thick vine grew at the man's command to give him a lift up to a window at the top of the tower. Marluxia leapt inside and quickly moved from room to room, clearly searching for something. Some muttered curses implied that whatever Marluxia wanted wasn't here. He quickly exited the tower and traveled back through the forest.

After a lot of walking, which Riku found rather boring, Marluxia reached a village. He portalled up to the rooftops to more easily spy on the people below without being seen. The people looked unremarkable to Riku, and they weren't what Marluxia was after, either. Riku was beginning to reconsider whether spying on Marluxia would be more worth his time than sleeping.

Marluxia was plainly getting bored, too. He summoned a slew of flower-shaped heartless into the village, then stood still and watched the ensuing chaos. The flower-heartless couldn't move much, so people could easily escape them. However, they cast fireballs, which were very quickly endangering the buildings.

To Riku's relief, local forces came to the rescue fairly quickly. Magic didn't seem to be a thing here, as the locals fought the heartless with swords and arrows, and fought the spreading fires with buckets of dirt and water. Riku was disturbed to see such a sight and be helpless to do anything about it. But he continued watching, just on the slim chance he would see something important.

He got his wish. The distinctive spray of a blizzaga blasted out the largest fire. Then the heartless started disappearing in a flurry of slashes.

Riku recognized the fighting by the style even before Marluxia got a good glimpse of the blond youth in a black coat. "Roxas!" Marluxia hissed with great animosity.

Riku had to remind himself not to speak, lest he give himself away to Marluxia. But his instinct was to try to call a warning to Roxas, that Marluxia was approaching to attack him from above.

Marluxia suddenly went tumbling across the rooftops. He scrambled back to his feet, then looked around to see the cause. A familiar red-head, also in a black coat, waved a keyblade cheekily at Marluxia. Marluxia hissed curses about Axel and charged forward to attack him with his scythe.

The ensuring battle was rather confusing for Riku to watch, as he couldn't control the frame of vision. Lea and Marluxia exchanged blows for a while. At some point, Roxas hopped up to join them, having likely disposed of all the heartless in the town. Marluxia still seemed to be holding his own until he was sent stumbling again, struck from behind.

It took a few moments of Marluxia scrambling and deflecting blows before Riku could get a view of the third attacker. He was very pleased when he got a glimpse of a girl with short black hair, also wearing a black coat. Xion was back too, and clearly doing well. She seemed to be enjoying herself, being out and about with her friends, beating up on the Organization.

If Roxas and Xion were here, then that most likely meant Naminé had been revived as well. Riku felt his heart lighten. Naminé had unique powers that she had barely begun to master. The Organization had focused on her power over Sora's memories, and discouraged her from trying anything else. But Riku suspected that she could do a lot more – especially with the help of a sympathetic teacher like Merlin or Yen Sid. If she could work with them, and Sora and the others, then they could hopefully come up with a new plan to defeat Xehanort without Riku's help. There was still Vanitas's plan, of course, but that was still a long shot at best. Riku didn't want the fate of the worlds to rest on such a slim chance.

The view of the rooftops disappeared into the swirling shadows of a dark corridor. Marluxia had evidently had enough of a beating. He emerged into a part of the Castle in the World that Never Was and stalked into a small room with a disguised door. The place had a couple of beds, and shelves full of potions. Apparently the nobodies had an infirmary – who would have guessed? Marluxia grabbed several bottles. He drank two on the spot, then carried the rest with him as he opened another portal and traveled back to his greenhouse. Among the flowers was an enormous, fluffy-looking bed. Marluxia flopped onto his bed, drank the remaining potions, and then settled down to sleep. Riku's vision went black.

With a sigh, Riku shifted his focus back to the internal space in Marluxia's heart. He was back to waiting again. He really hoped Vanitas would come back for him soon.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"You were right on the mark again, Master Yen Sid. We found Marluxia snooping around, tearing up the village," Lea reported. Since abandoning his tower, Yen Sid had set himself up in an office in Mickey's castle. The room looked remarkably similar to his tower. In fact, the more Lea looked at it… the furnishings looked _identical_ to those from his tower. Maybe Merlin wasn't the only one who carried his home around with him?

"And after we ran him off, we saw this girl," Roxas added. "She was… almost glowing!"

"Another Princess of Heart, we figure," Lea added.

"You are likely correct," Yen Sid agreed. "I suspected as much when I was able to foresee the Organization interfering in that world. The matter I am still unclear about is whether Xehanort _knows_ there is a princess in that world, or if he was merely guessing."

"Is it safe for us to leave her there?" Xion questioned. "What if the Organization goes back?"

"Nothing is safe," Yen Sid murmured to himself. Then he sighed. "We have too many worlds to protect, and too few keybearers. Even with your welcome addition to our ranks."

"Can't we ask more people?" Xion questioned, fidgeting. "Are keybearers the only ones who can fight? I mean… the Organization fights with different weapons. Except for Roxas and me…"

Lea uncomfortably shifted his shoulders. "We've already sort of dragged the rest of the ex-Organization guys into this. But… I don't feel right making them fight, since they didn't have a choice to get involved in the first place."

"Who?!" both Roxas and Xion wanted to know.

Lea took a moment to update them on Xaldin, Lexaeus, and Zexion's current status.

Roxas made a face. "Lexaeus pummeled me to teach me how to use limit breaks."

Lea cracked a smile at that in spite of himself. "Well, how else would you learn it?" At Roxas's glare, he looked aside and faked coughing, while still grinning.

Yen Sid tapped his fingertips together. "Lea, I too share your reluctance in recruiting… outsiders to our cause. But Xion, you make a good point. I have long honored the charge of trying to minimize interactions between worlds. Traditionally, only the keybearers were the ones who traveled between worlds to combat the threat of darkness. However… in a time where all worlds are threatened…" He drummed his fingers together. "The consequences of breaking this restriction would be significant. I cannot consider it lightly. However… I think now I _must_ consider it." He turned his attention back to the three keybearers. "For now, you three will travel to your next world. Inform me immediately if you discover another Princess of Heart, or anything else that seems significant."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku jolted awake as he tumbled and rolled to a stop in Vanitas's mental town.

"Not a word out of you about how long you had to wait!" Vanitas threatened.

Riku had no idea what Vanitas was talking about. But Riku was starting to realize Vanitas was unable to properly emote, and so he guessed that Vanitas was embarrassed about the delay. "Don't worry about it. I know Marluxia was out on a mission, so you had to wait until he got back."

"He… went out?"

Riku studied Vanitas intently – as much as he could, anyway. Vanitas had the helmet on again. But he seemed to be leaning on the wall more than just casually. "Are you injured?"

"No! No. I'm fine!" Vanitas crossed his arms. "I checked the dungeons. While you were snoozing. Five princesses. No time for chit chat. So… which vessel is next?"

Riku rolled his eyes. He cast curaga on Vanitas, ignoring the sputtered insults about his intelligence. "Better?"

"No, you imbecile! I told you I didn't need that!"

Riku frowned. "Are you…? You're still fading, aren't you?"

Vanitas hissed in exasperation, looking away. He otherwise ignored Riku's question.

"I guess I'm not strong enough to sustain you," Riku murmured. "So your only chance really is… is rejoining with Ventus."

"Don't get sappy about it! I already told you this, remember?!"

Riku considered all the comforting things he could try saying. Vanitas wouldn't want to hear any of them. There was really only one thing Riku could do at this point. "…Let's get going. Xigbar next."

"Finally! You talk too much!" Vanitas complained.

x-x-x

Riku took everything he had learned in Marluxia's heart and applied it to Xigbar's. While still in the initial dive, Riku found a connection to the deeper heart layer, and switched immediately into the deeper dive. The landscape he arrived in looked much like the keyblade graveyard. And Xigbar wasn't anywhere visible. That was fine with Riku. He quickly sought and found the path to Xehanort's heart.

The old man went down so quickly that Riku was certain it had to be a trap. He waited several minutes, keyblade still at the ready.

Finally, Xehanort stirred again. Riku quickly whapped him with the keyblade. Xehanort slumped down, unconscious again.

At last, Riku had to admit that it wasn't a trick. He summoned the keyhole and sealed Xehanort's heart to sleep. Job complete.

That Xehanort had been absurdly weak. Going by his previous theory… meant Xigbar offered Xehanort no resistance at all to the possession? Riku recalled hearing some speculation that Braig had been working with Xehanort, knowingly, from the beginning. This would seem to confirm that.

So, that only left Saïx. Riku was more than a little apprehensive about facing him. Lea had apparently known his somebody, but wouldn't elaborate on their history. Saïx had been Xemnas's number two in the first Organization Thirteen. And he possessed the power to berserk and greatly increase in strength – Riku was really worried what that ability would translate into inside Saïx's heart.

Well, worrying about it would change nothing. First, Riku needed to get back to Vanitas. Riku raised his keyblade and summoned the upward portal.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"I appreciate you all returning here so quickly," Yen Sid said solemnly. In light of the massive group of people present – which was all the keybearers, the former Organization members, and King Mickey plus most of his staff – this meeting had convened in the throne room of Disney Castle. "Sora has discovered some information which I believe is critical." Yen Sid nodded to the young keybearer to speak.

"Oh. So, um… I was just at the Olympus Coliseum, checking in on things with Hercules." Sora looked a little unused to trying to speak to so many people at once. He licked his lips nervously. "Anyway, Hercules told me that Hades has been gearing up to cause some trouble. Hercules thinks he has it under control for now, but um… so I guess there's going to be a planet-ary line-ment? And that's something that only happens once in a lot of years. But it can really boost the power of darkness. And this line-ment thing is going to happen tomorrow?" Sora finished uncertainly.

"Thank you, Sora." Yen Sid took back over the discussion. "Sora has discovered that a significant planetary alignment is about to occur. What this means is that the paths of many of the worlds will be aligned for the first time in hundreds of years. This situation can facilitate the transference of massive amounts of energy – both light and dark." Yen Sid began pacing. "As best as I can determine, the last alignment this major may have coincided with the last keyblade war."

"So Xehanort will be making his move tomorrow!" Mickey exclaimed.

"It seems most likely," Yen Sid agreed.

The group erupted into noisy conversation. However, almost half the group got off track by asking again what a "planetary alignment" was, thus necessitating the other half to attempt to explain it to them.

Yen Sid waved a hand and cleared his throat, pulling the crowd's attention back to himself. "There is one more thing. I have considered the situation we face… and I have determined that we need to not balk from seeking additional help. In the past, it has been forbidden to recruit persons who are not keyblade bearers to fight between worlds. The reason being is because of the danger that could result from too many persons learning about the existence of other worlds. Take Maleficent, for example. Since learning of other worlds, she has not ceased in her efforts to conquer them.

"However, we are facing the very real doom of all worlds if we do not succeed. In light of that… please return to the worlds you have visited before. Recruit any persons you think would be useful in a fight. Xehanort will surely not limit his forces to his dark vessels alone, and so we must be prepared to fight an army."

This pronouncement shocked Aqua and Ventus the most, for they had been taught the traditions of the keybearers. But Sora was already naming off people aloud that he could recruit. "—And Leon, and Cloud, and Beast – oh wait, he's human now— and Auron, and—"

"We will be joining you as well," Ienzo declared loudly, causing a temporary silence. "Just in case it was not already obvious."

"We appreciate the assurances you have given us that we do not need to fight," Aeleus continued. "However, we are determined in this."

"If we're going down, we're all going down together," Dilan concluded with a wry grin, drawing all eyes to him. He frowned at them. "Now quit gawking at me! The man said go – let's go!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Vanitas didn't keep Riku waiting long this time. As soon as he retrieved him, Vanitas went walking and refused explanation. Riku wondered at Vanitas's refusal to use a dark corridor. It worried him that Vanitas might feel too weak to do so. Or perhaps Vanitas suspected the dark corridor travel might be weakening him, in spite of his supposed immunity.

They descended several staircases then took a hidden door. The room within had doorways that were all blocked by bars.

(The princesses!) Riku gasped, suddenly understanding what Vanitas was showing him. He studied the girls inside each cell as Vanitas walked by. A few faces he knew from pictures, but the rest were unfamiliar. They all looked on Vanitas with terror.

One, two, three… four, five… six… seven. Xehanort had his seven lights. Which meant he could proceed with creating the X-Blade at any time.

(He'll be summoning the X-Blade at the Graveyard.) Vanitas finally spoke. (He wants this to be a recreation of the last Keyblade War. So he'll be trying to match all the details he can.)

(How soon?) Riku asked breathlessly.

"Please, let us out of here!" one of the princesses begged. She had wild dark hair, bronze skin, and a black eye. Clearly she'd put up a fight. "You don't really want to destroy the world, do you?!"

"I can't." Vanitas's voice was flat. With that, he turned and quickly left the dungeon. To Riku, he said, (Last chance – are you going to tackle the blue-haired guy or not?)

The moment of the Keyblade War was almost upon them. So far, his and Vanitas's plan had been a success. None of the vessels had betrayed them. Xigbar might have, had he noticed Riku in his heart, but Riku had gotten lucky. Now there was just one left. Did Riku risk exposure to try once more? Every additional seeker had been a gamble. Now that they were this close, and so much lay in the balance, should Riku really take another risk?

But Riku's heart told him otherwise. He didn't really know anything about the person Saïx had been, aside from the fact that he had been someone Lea had known. What if he weren't a willing participant like Braig? What if Saïx was another person who had been dragged into this conflict against his will? Riku could not ever, in good conscience, leave an innocent person to suffer. It went contrary to the nature of light, and the path of Riku's heart. Someone who walked a path between the darkness and light might be able to choose to sacrifice one person to strengthen the light… but Riku had left that path behind. He had walked the Way to Dawn to the end. Dawn had come. And now, in the full light of day, Riku knew what he must do.

(I need to try to free Saïx as well,) he confirmed to Vanitas. He considered sharing some of his internal debate with Vanitas, but held back. There was no reason to transfer over any of his doubts.

Vanitas asked no further questions. He was already through the door and heading back up the stairs.

Riku didn't dare comment on the fact that Vanitas was moving slower and using the railing for support…

x-x-x

Saïx, by a stroke of luck, was sleeping off his last battle. Vanitas transferred Riku over quickly and without comment.

The initial dive had the occasional drifting heartless. And unusually, instead of occasional images of the heart's owner, Riku saw ghostly figures in black coats and hoods popping up here and there. Riku didn't waste any more time with the heartless than he had to. Like he had in the last two hearts, he sought for a connection to the deeper heart and dove again, bypassing the upper level completely.

The lower dive was pitch black. The only illumination was double pinpricks of yellow light – heartless eyes. They came in waves, forcing Riku to cast thunder or fire spells to clear them out of his way quickly before he got surrounded. The dive seemed to last a long time as well – or maybe it was simply the constant fighting that made it seem to drag on. Riku was looking forward to a break from fighting the heartless when the exit portal finally appeared below him.

No such luck. The world of Saïx's lower heart was just as infested by heartless. At least now there was enough light to see a little more of his surroundings. The building shapes seemed to resemble Radiant Garden – Kairi and Lea's original home. And Saïx's as well. Amid the rampaging heartless, there were normal people walking around, seemingly oblivious to their danger. But as Riku approached a woman in a long dress, she turned to face Riku, suddenly morphing to have a shadowed face and yellow eyes. She was another heartless. Riku recoiled with a gasp.

All the other people were the same. From a distance they looked human, but up close, they revealed that they were only more heartless. And like the ordinary-looking heartless, the shadowed people would attack Riku, too, if he came close enough.

He couldn't fight them all. It would take too much time and too much strength. Riku scrambled up to the rooftops, trying to get a moment's respite. Flying heartless began diving at him from above. He cast a cure spell while he ran, trying to get to a place of cover.

There was no safe place. Riku finally had to hold still and just ignore the blows long enough to find the direction to Xehanort's heart. It took longer than normal because of the many distractions, but he finally got it.

The castle basement. In retrospect, maybe he should have been able to guess.

Riku swung his keyblade at the nearby heartless to drive them away, then started running again. Once he was mostly clear again, he cast another healing spell on himself. As much as possible, he simply avoided the heartless. His focus was speed – speed to his destination. Once Xehanort's heart was sealed, the heartless should vanish – or at least be significantly diminished. Riku would deal with them then.

Even without the growing stench of darkness to guide him, Riku knew the path to the castle by heart. The roads were slightly different in Saïx's memories – since they predated Radiant Garden's catastrophic destruction – but Riku could just hop over walls whenever he encountered an obstacle.

A massive heartless was blocking the way into the castle, a dragon-like beast with eight limbs like a spider. Riku grit his teeth, reluctant to leave the path but unwilling to spend the time to fight his way through that monster. At last, he decided to risk finding another way into the castle. Hopefully finding the invisible path again would not take long. Riku bounded up the outside walls until he reached a balcony and then ducked inside.

The interior of the castle defied reality. Gravity didn't seem to work properly. Some rooms were sideways or even upside down. Heartless appeared and disappeared through walls as though they were insubstantial. They could still injure Riku, however.

Xehanort's heart was close. Riku dove into an ominous black pit in the center of a workroom and prepared himself for a fight.

Xehanort's avatar was ready and waiting, and easily deflected Riku's first blow. Riku shadow-slipped behind him and struck as hard and as fast as he could. The first few blows landed, but then Xehanort dodged out of the way and froze Riku in place with a Stop spell.

Riku mentally cursed and tried to flail and free himself. Xehanort landed a number of blows on him, taking full advantage of his helplessness. At last, the spell expired, and Riku was able to dash out of range and cure himself. He deflected Xehanort's next assault, and was able to follow up with a close-range dark firaga.

The battle became a long grind of alternately striking, then retreating to heal. Xehanort summoned two illusionary duplicates of himself who could still injure Riku but were impervious to harm. Only once Riku managed to land enough blows on the true Xehanort did the doppelgangers finally disappear.

Xehanort suddenly seemed to radiant a gigantic aura of darkness. Riku, guided by his battle sense, ran as far back as he could get to try to avoid the ensuing explosion of darkness. He was only partially unscathed. The right side of his body went numb, but he could still move. Xehanort immediately started gathering dark power around himself to cast the spell again.

Riku charged at Xehanort and attacked as hard and fast as he could to try to disrupt the spellcasting. It almost wasn't enough. Riku abandoned classic form and punched Xehanort in the face with his left hand. That was enough to disrupt his spell.

Riku decided to take a risk and throw all his current magical strength into spell after spell, pounding against Xehanort. Once his magic reserves were temporarily exhausted, Riku switched to keyblade combos. Feeling was returning to his right hand, helping him to drive his strikes with more accuracy.

Xehanort tried once again to summon the dark energy for his massive spell. Riku used a magically enhanced strike to knock Xehanort off his feet, and he hit the old man with repeated rapid blows until he sent Xehanort flying with a final, powerful strike.

The old man didn't get up immediately, but was still conscious. Again, Riku opted to skip healing himself, and used what magic strength he had recovered to cast the strongest spells he could. Xehanort switched to casting several simple fireballs instead. Riku deflected each of them back at the caster. At last, Xehanort slowly eased to the ground. Riku dashed forward and whacked him several more times for good measure.

Riku was short of breath and trembling slightly. Xehanort didn't move immediately. Good enough. Riku aimed his keyblade, summoned the keyhole, and quickly sealed Xehanort's heart into sleep. It seemed to work, but Riku spent several anxious moments watching, just waiting to ensure Xehanort wasn't able to break free of it. By the time Riku's breathing had finally slowed back to normal, he concluded he was probably safe. That had been a hard fight. Riku finally healed himself then sat on the ground to rest for a few minutes more.

Clearly that copy of Xehanort's heart had been stronger than the others. If the differences of strength were proportional to the expected resistance, then that meant… Riku needed to make the effort to speak to Saïx's avatar. In spite of his initial fears, it now seemed much less likely that Saïx was actually loyal to Xehanort. In which case, his cooperation could prove very helpful. Riku pushed himself back up to standing and made his way back to the town outside the castle.

The world outside was now free of the swarming heartless, but the shadowed people remained, unchanged. This… did not bode well for Saïx's state of mind. And speaking of, the blue-haired man was nowhere visible. Riku would have to go hunting.

What had Lea said his real name was? There were only three letters to rearrange. Sai. Sia. Isa. That was it.

"Isa!" Riku yelled as loudly as he could. "Isa! I've come to help you escape!"

No response. But then… the space in front of Riku suddenly darkened, like fog had abruptly descended. Cautiously, Riku entered the fog, unsure of what he would find.

While the edges of the space remained black fog, parts near the center of the cloud took the form of walls, a doorway. A very young-looking Lea popped out of the doorway. "Isa! There's _dead_ people in here!"

"What?! There can't be!" an equally young-looking Isa declared as he bounded over to look. He recoiled immediately from what he saw. "What happened here…?"

"Oh, new recruits?" a familiar voice said. Xemnas – no… his somebody, Xehanort – entered the scene from the fog. He raised a keyblade. "I'm sure I could make use of you as well."

"Lea! Go get help!" Isa yelled. He placed himself between Lea and Xehanort. Then he rushed Xehanort and tried to knock the key from his hand.

Xehanort easily knocked Isa down, and then jabbed his keyblade into his chest. Isa screamed.

Then the whole scene melted away into darkness. Riku could faintly see a path beneath his feet now, sloping downward into further darkness. He walked along it, cautiously watching for danger, but all he found was another foggy patch up ahead. Riku entered it and found another memory playing out around him.

Isa – no, it was Saïx now – lay on the ground, his face slashed open and bleeding. But instead of red blood, rivers of darkness poured from the wounds. Riku would never have guessed this is how Saïx came by that x-shaped scar. And there had clearly been a battle – the ghostly room had large gouges in the floor and walls. Saïx's massive claymore lay across the room, out of reach. And one of Xemnas's ethereal blades pinned Saïx to the floor by his black coat.

Xehanort – the old, bald version – though for a second, he seemed to have Xemnas's face instead – stood over Saïx triumphantly, keyblade in hand. "With the mark of the recusant, I mark you! There is _nowhere_ you can run that I will not find you! You are _mine._ "

"I won't help you!" Saïx hissed, clutching at his wounded face and trying to pull himself free. "You and your cause are evil!"

"Good? Evil? Bah! You are a _nobody_. You cannot feel such things. Don't pretend to be more than you are."

"I still _remember_ right from wrong, old man!" Saïx snapped. "And stealing hearts from innocent people is _wrong_. Especially since you expect me to do it for the sake of the man _who took my heart in the first place!_ "

Xehanort frowned. "Oh, you remember that? Such a pity. None of the others do. Your friend Axel certainly doesn't. He's taken to heartlessness like a fish to water." Xehanort chuckled to himself.

"My friend is dead," Saïx spat. "Axel – that monster you've made – isn't who he used to be. If Axel remembered who he was, he'd oppose you, too!"

Xehanort sighed, annoyed. "I'd really hate to have to destroy you. Your power could be very useful to me." He paused to strike Saïx with a paralyzing spell to keep him in place. "It seems I will need more extreme measures to keep you in line. I hadn't planned on doing this so soon, but… needs must." Xehanort held his keyblade aloft and created a dark orange sphere at the point of it. Then he jammed the sphere into Saïx's chest.

The scene abruptly vanished, leaving nothing but darkness and the faint path, once again.

"Isa?" Riku called out, hesitantly. Still no response. Riku continued downhill, recognizing as he went that he was descending into an even deeper area of the heart. He had never been so far into the depths of a heart… except for when he had gone to help Sora wake up from whatever Xehanort had done to him.

At last, another fog bank appeared ahead. Riku walked into it and let the memory take shape.

This memory was disjointed – or rather, it was several related snippets of things.

Saïx told Axel, "I'm not sure what Xemnas is planning, but I know he's been lying to us. We'll play along for now, and when the time is right, we'll overthrow him and get new hearts for ourselves."

The images suddenly dissolved, then reformed into a new scene. This time, Axel was talking to Saïx. "Do you ever think about how we haven't really lost much? I mean, we were just fooling around and getting into trouble before. We actually have a purpose now."

"But no hearts," Saïx said coldly. "Because of our condition, we are _literally incapable_ of fully comprehending what we've lost!"

"Eh, whatever," Axel replied, turning to leave. "I'm going to go find something to set on fire."

The images vanished abruptly again. Riku continued walking.

Another scene formed. This one included Roxas. He was in the background; the focus was on Axel and Saïx.

"Babysitting again?! Really?" Axel whined.

"As the keybearer, he is _essential_ to collecting the hearts for us."

"Ugh. Again with the hearts! That's all you ever talk about anymore!"

Saïx scowled at Axel. "It is _the most important thing._ Don't you want to get a heart again? To be able to _feel?_ "

Axel rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I really don't get what's going on. None of what Xemnas says ever makes any sense. I just figure… this is us now. Why worry so much about the future? We should just enjoy what we've got in the moment."

Saïx looked like he wanted to strangle Axel. "But how can we _enjoy_ anything if we are _incapable of_ _emotions?_ "

Axel sighed loudly. "Okay, Saïx. I'll babysit your keybearer again. But then you owe me something fun."

"Your idea of fun centers around lighting things on fire."

"Exactly." Axel grinned. "And you like bashing things with your jumbo sword. So let's go somewhere where we can do a little of both! Like old times!"

Saïx snorted, but Riku didn't get to find out what happened next because the scene abruptly vanished again.

Riku paused in his descent for a moment. The way Axel and Saïx interacted… reminded him of himself and Sora. Riku was starting to understand why Lea didn't want to talk about his history with Isa – it was just too painful for him to think about. Riku couldn't imagine the strain that being turned into nobodies had placed on their friendship. What if Sora and Riku had become nobodies together? Could they have stayed friends? Or would they have turned on each other in the end? Riku recalled that _Saïx_ had been the one who had leapt to attack Lea, after Lea had prevented Sora from becoming Xehanort's newest vessel. How hard it must have been for _Lea_ , to see his friend like that.

The road continued on. And so did the snippets of memories.

Axel said snidely to Saïx, "Nice to know where I stand!"

Saïx looked irritated. "You made it back in one piece, didn't you?"

Another snippet arose: Axel on his bed, yelling at Saïx, "So now you expect me to rat out my friends to you? Get out of my room!"

And another: Saïx demanding of Axel, "Which would you rather lose: a make-believe friendship or a _real_ one?"

And then Saïx, sitting on his throne. The rest of the room was unformed. Saïx stared down at the floor, his hands clenched into fists. "He couldn't stand the emptiness of being without a heart. And that led to his demise. He was _foolish_ and _weak._ "

Nobodies had hearts, Riku reminded himself as that last Saïx vanished into smoke. Xemnas had lied to them when he told them they didn't. How had Saïx not recognized he was capable of feeling grief?

Riku could feel a weight pressing down on him now. He was very, very deep inside Isa's heart and memories. The air seemed thicker and harder to move through. Riku continued on and plowed ahead into the next fog bank.

This memory was brighter, and more distinct. More recent. It was one of the rooms in the basement of the castle in Radiant Garden. Riku had been inside that room himself. And it looked just as he remembered, with the exception of the bodies presently strewn across the floor.

"Get up." Xigbar yanked Saïx to his feet. "It's time to be going."

"I'm… human again." Saïx placed a hand to his chest in wonder. "I didn't just disappear…" His eyes widened. He turned around until he found a specific body. "Lea!"

Xigbar placed a hand to stop him. "No time for sentimentality. Our mission isn't over yet."

"No!" Saïx knocked Xigbar's hand aside. "I've _died_ for the master once. I will not serve him anymore!"

"You're forgetting that his heart already resides in you." The youngest version of Xehanort appeared into the memory. He raised a fist and summoned the power of darkness.

Saïx's chest shimmered in response. He gasped and fell to his knees.

"You are _mine_ , Saïx. Now and forever." Teenager Xehanort pushed Saïx's head back to force him to look up at him. "You are _drenched_ in darkness, and it will only continue to grow from here on out. Now, this will only be as difficult as you choose to make it. Cooperate, and everything will go well for you. Fight against me again, and… well…" Xehanort summoned his keyblade and pointed it at Saïx. Xehanort's eyes flared yellow, and then Saïx's did as well. Saïx smoothly stood, summoned his massive claymore, and placed it against the unconscious Lea's throat. Xehanort chuckled. "Do you see? You _are_ _me_. As such, I can take full control at any time. If you cause me any further trouble, he will die by your own hands. Do we have an understanding?"

Saïx just whimpered. His hands released the claymore, and it dissolved into nothing.

"Good." Teenager Xehanort smirked triumphantly. "Xigbar, Saïx: come with me. We have much to do. The rest of these are worthless." He gestured to the remaining bodies. "We must gather the rest of the _true_ Organization Thirteen."

The memory scene dissolved into nothingness, but the fog remained. Riku looked around cautiously. "Isa? Isa, are you here?"

"Who…? How did you reach this place?" came a whisper out of the darkness.

Riku followed the voice. As he got close enough, he could see the avatar of Saïx-Isa huddled close to the ground. He looked up and flinched when he saw Riku. "Why are you here?" His face was still marred by the x scar, but his eyes were green.

"I've come to free you from Xehanort," Riku said, extending a hand to Isa.

Isa just stared at the offered hand, then at the helmet obscuring Riku's face. "Why?"

"Because…" The spell still constrained Riku from speaking as anyone but Vanitas. He decided to just go with it. "Maybe you don't know much about me. But Xehanort created me by _tearing my heart in two._ My existence has been nothing but misery. All I want is to be whole again, but Xehanort keeps preventing me. Defeating Xehanort is my last chance – because, suffice it to say, if he succeeds to destroying all the worlds with the X-Blade, then I'll never get to properly exist!"

"Destroying… all the worlds?" Isa cautiously took Riku's hand and let the other pull him up to standing. "I thought… he just wanted to summon Kingdom Hearts…"

"That's part of it," Riku agreed. "But what he's really trying to do is recreate the universal destruction that occurred when people were originally fighting over Kingdom Hearts. Everything was destroyed, but new worlds were able to form from the fragments of light left in people's hearts. _That_ is his ultimate goal. Xehanort wants to destroy everything, and remake it all according to his own desires. At least, that's what he _thinks_ he's going to do. I personally think he lost his mind long ago, and he's just going to bring about universal ruin."

Isa gaped at Riku. "But then… what could we possibly do? He's got everything planned out. The princesses, the seekers of darkness… he's thought of _everything_."

"Not everything!" Riku waved his index finger dramatically. "You know he has been looking into the future to foresee what will happen? Well, he has blindspots. Do you remember when Xehanort was going to turn Sora into his vessel?"

"Yes…" Isa considered this. "He was so certain of his success. But then Lea appeared…"

"Right! Xehanort foresaw everything, up until the moment just before Lea dropped in. He saw the moment _right before_ he achieved his goal. But there was still a split-second left where something could go wrong, and it did!"

Isa furrowed his brow. "So, Xehanort can still be outsmarted. But… what could I possibly do?" he appealed to Riku. "Xehanort can take direct control of my body at any time. I can't fight him…"

Riku gave Isa the rest of the detailed explanation of him sealing Xehanort's hearts, and the plan to pretend compliance until the moment the X-Blade appeared.

"—However, for you to take back full control…" Riku looked around at the black valley they stood in. "I think we need to get you back to the upper level of your heart." He extended a hand to Isa again. "Hold on. I'll try to bring you back up with me."

Isa grabbed hold of the proffered arm with both hands and watched intently as Riku summoned his keyblade, summoned the relevant keyhole, and then pulled them both into the upward corridor.

The upper level of Isa's heart took the form of Radiant Garden. It was not looking its best: many of the structures were damaged or crumbling, and there were no people visible. At least there were no more heartless, either.

"I'll need to wait here until… my real body can pull me back." Riku couldn't explain better than that. But he felt it important to give some explanation prior to him just disappearing. "From what I understood from the other vessels, you should be able to take back control from Saïx from here."

Isa nodded. Then he looked off to the side, nervously. "Vanitas you… you will be fighting in the upcoming battle, too, won't you?"

"Yes. I have to."

"Could you…?" Isa paused and sighed. "I understand we need to make it look realistic. But could you please try to not hurt Lea?"

"I…" _I can't promise anything. It's all up to Vanitas_ , Riku thought grimly. "I'll do my best," he promised. He would try to get Vanitas to agree. "And you just try your best, too. We can't refuse to fight. But maybe we can… swing hard and miss a lot. Sloppy, aggressive-looking fighting."

Isa nodded slowly. He still wouldn't meet Riku's eyes. "And one more thing… if I can't break Xehanort's control… if you have to kill me to stop him… will you please tell Lea that I'm sorry?"

That request caught Riku off-guard. "You won't have to die," Riku tried to reassure him. "We only have to destroy Xehanort, not his vessels. You should really be the one to tell Lea yourself!" Riku noted that Isa looked like he was trying not to cry. He quickly added, "But if something does happen to you, I'll tell Lea for you."

"Thank you." Isa took a deep breath. He slowly turned and surveyed his dilapidated mental world. "I've got a lot of work cut out for me," he observed.

Riku felt Vanitas reconnect with him. "Time for me to go. Good luck, Isa!" he managed to call out before he was yanked backward across the chains, back to his prison which was starting to feel oddly like home.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Bonus Scene!

"I understand," Cloud said solemnly, his spiky hair nodding in agreement. "I will help you fight for the fate of the worlds."

"Great!" Sora said. "And would you ask your friend, too?"

"My… friend?"

"Yeah, you know! The one with the long silver hair that you keep looking for. You should ask him, too!"

"That's… Sephiroth. He is a being of darkness."

"Well, yeah, but the fate of the worlds concerns him, too!" Sora insisted.

Cloud stared at Sora blankly. "Sora, you don't get it. Sephiroth literally tried to _destroy_ the world."

Sora considered that. But only briefly. "Well then, tell him he needs to stop Xehanort from destroying the world so that he can do it himself!"

"Sora, you don't…" Cloud sighed loudly. "All right. If I see him, I'll ask him."

"Thanks, Cloud!" Sora ran off.

Spoilers: Sephiroth just laughed at Cloud and wouldn't help. The end.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Endnote: When I was writing, I was picturing Tiana as the princess with the black eye. She seemed like the type to put up a fight. But my sisters pointed out that Moana would also match that description. Moana would also definitely fight back. But I think she would probably win – that is, successfully avoid getting kidnapped. Moana is quick and resourceful – and plus, my sisters think the ocean would have also helped by throwing a boat at the seeker of darkness. My sisters decided that this scenario with Moana is canon, so there you go. :)_

 _Also, Isa is my poor sad baby and needs a hug!_

 _So, I have no idea how or when_ Saïx _got Xehanort's heart implanted into him. I had to figure out something for this story, so I went with the idea that Saïx got 'norted pretty early on in his nobody experience. But then, this creates a problem because didn't Old Xehanort sort of fuse with Terra, and then they split into Ansem SoD and Xemnas? So Old Xehanort wasn't around at this time, but I figured he's the only one who can 'nort people. So I decided it would make sense to have him sort of actively-possess Xemnas's body to do his evil work. I hope that all makes sufficient sense. I really love these games, but the lore is so confusing…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: Sorry about the delay! I was sick, and really busy with Halloween stuff for several days. And also, this chapter needed a lot more editing than the other chapters. Or maybe I was just being a perfectionist, but I can't help it! This is the most important chapter of the story!_

 _I also want to say it was pretty intimidating to figure out how to write a battle scene with_ so many characters. _I finally took my inspiration from the song "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny." If you haven't heard the song before, you should check it out. I prefer the 2006 version over the 2009 version, and the original video on albinoblacksheep is a fun (but bloody) accompaniment to the music._

 _Happy Halloween everybody!_

Chapter 10: The Final Battle

Xehanort could arrive at the Badlands at his leisure; the defenders of light didn't have that luxury. By the time the Seekers of Darkness finally did arrive, the guardians of light had been at the Keyblade Graveyard for hours and had already scouted out every nook and cranny of the place.

There was nothing living on the world. The bare hills and the chiseled valleys all showed signs of massive destruction by magic. Dust swirled constantly in the dry wind. And in the largest valley were the keyblades – jammed into the dirt as makeshift gravemarkers. For some reason, they had been arranged into four large squares with a crossroads at the center. Or rather… a giant letter X. It seemed likely that such an arrangement had been Xehanort's personal doing. Aqua recalled the valley and keyblades had been left battered and misshapen after she, Terra, and Ventus had each attempted to fight Xehanort and his forces. Xehanort must have put the area back to its prior state. The notion seemed more creepy than respectful to the fallen.

The sun gleamed redly through the dusty sky onto the two figures in black coats who suddenly appeared at the far end of the valley. Most of "Team Light" (as Sora had insisted they be called) were clustered around the mouth of the ravine exiting the large valley on the opposite side. Once the newcomers were noted, commands were exchanged and people began to move into position. Sora immediately started moving to confront the arrivals from "Team Darkness." Mickey, Donald, and Goofy hastily fell into step with Sora. This could be a feint, and they wouldn't risk Sora's safety by letting him go alone.

Yen Sid directed the arrangement of forces, at Mickey's insistence. Some of Sora's gathered allies, Master Yen Sid included, were strong in magic but quite physically weak. Thus he had made the decision for them to cluster together, to protect each other, and offer magical support to the fighters. The "Magic Squad" consisted of Yen Sid, Merlin, the Fairy Godmother, Flora, Fauna, Merriweather, Aerith, and Naminé.

Naminé was critical to the Magic Squad. With Merlin's help, she had discovered that – in addition to having control over the links of Sora's memories – she could also affect his links to his friends. It was like following stepping stones from one location to another. So though she could also see and affect the memories of all the other people connected to Sora (not that she would, she assured them), the important effect was that she could use the links to cast magic on these people from a distance. Or enable other people to pass their magic over the links as well. So Aerith and Merlin could remain safely away from the heat of the battle, and by Naminé's power, they could cast healing and support spells on the fighters from across the valley.

The next group was the "Fighting Squad." Leon had stepped up as the de facto leader. Also present were Cloud, Yuffie, Tifa, Ienzo, Dilan, Aeleus, Jack Skellington, and Dr. Finkelstein's "expert warrior" (a new monster created in anticipation of a future heartless threat). No one, Jack included, were too confident in the monster's abilities (considering the doctor's usual track record) but they intended to give it a chance. Leon saw to the distribution of this group, splitting them into two parties to move around the left and right sides of the valley, while still staying close to the Magic Squad until the real fight began.

Stitch, and the three fairies known as the "Gullwings" were also counting themselves as part of the fighting group. Sora was enthusiastic about their help, but Leon was uncertain. So they ended up just going where they wanted and doing what they wanted. Which was mostly harassing Leon, at the moment. Leon was doing impressively well at ignoring them and continuing with his work directing the rest of the fighters.

Finally, the keybearers: Kairi, Aqua, Ventus, Lea, Roxas, and Xion had all come and were anxiously awaiting the battle. With Sora and Mickey, that made their total number eight. Aqua had wondered if the fact that they were not seven, as in the prophesied number of Lights, would cause any problems. Of course, no one wanted to stay behind, and Yen Sid pointed out that he himself could count as a ninth.

"Xehanort has obsessed over meeting the terms of this prophecy all his life. I credit his obsession with it as contributing to his decline from the light and his determination to pursue this current, terrible course. We ought not copy his mistakes. Trust in your hearts, and follow the light. I feel that if we have more lights than needed, so much the better," Yen Sid declared. So that ended that discussion.

Sora finished crossing the wasted valley on foot. The two hooded figures remained in place, waiting for him. As Mickey and his friends came to a stop beside Sora, the right figure pushed back his hood.

They knew the scar and eyepatch well, although Xigbar's previously white-streaked hair was now completely white. He grinned widely at them. "Glad you could make it. I've got a new friend for you to meet!"

They'd been expecting this. It had been inevitable. But it still hurt terribly to see the second figure push back his hood, revealing Riku's familiar face. There were changes to his appearance – his hair was longer and shaggier again; the eyes peering through his long bangs were yellow; his ears were pointed; but worst of all was the inappropriately cheerful smile on his face. The nobody was anticipating bloodshed, and was delighted by the prospect. Riku had been arrogant in the past, but nothing like this, even when possessed by Ansem.

Sora summoned his keyblade and dropped into a fighting stance by reflex. "It doesn't matter what you've done to Riku. We're going to get him back!"

"Aw, I don't even get a thank you?" Xigbar said. "I thought you'd be _happy_ to see your friend again. Xehanort _did_ want to kill him… but this will be so much more fun! You see, he _remembers_ being Riku. And he remembers everything about you. All your secrets… all your worst fears…"

"I look forward to killing you, Sora," Riku's nobody said pleasantly. "After I kill Kairi first, and make you watch."

Mickey moved closer to Sora. Donald and Goofy stayed back, in case of an ambush.

"I know you're just a nobody," Sora responded through clenched teeth. "You wouldn't say things like that if you had a heart."

"Oh, but I do have a heart," not-Riku said, pressing a black-gloved hand to his chest. "Xehanort's heart. It's much stronger than that weak child's heart I had before."

"Riku wasn't weak!" Sora shot back, his voice trembling slightly. His friends had warned him, and he was expecting this, but he _couldn't_ stop it from getting to him.

"Oh, but he was," Xigbar crooned. "It was pathetic, really. Seeing him lying on the ground, whimpering like a dog. And he was even _crying_."

Sora snapped. "Shut up!" he shrieked as he swung his keyblade at Xigbar. Xigbar just laughed and blocked the blow with one of his rifles.

Then Riku's nobody slashed at Sora, necessitating a quick dodge. "Fight me!" he commanded, yellow eyes eerily wide. He raised his sword – not a keyblade – for another attack. This sword seemed to be a variant on Souleater, but with more spikes.

Sora took in all these details quickly before throwing himself into the fight.

Mickey tried to get Sora's attention – to talk him out of the fight perhaps – but he had to quickly go on the defensive as Xigbar began targeting him and his companions with his laser arrows.

And while this small group was well and thoroughly distracted, dark portals began rapidly bubbling up in the center of the valley, near the grim crossroads. Eleven more dark seekers, flanking seven frightened princesses, emerged. But dark portals continued to open all across the valley, giving it the appearance of a pool of boiling darkness. Heartless appeared – every type that had been encountered before, of all sizes. And then faceless nobodies appeared from the dark corridors as well, their sinuous gray forms slipping in and out among the heartless. The whole valley was now full of enemies, with Sora and Mickey isolated on the far side.

No one needed to be told to engage. All the members of Team Light leapt into action.

The battle had begun.

x-x-x

"So… do you want us to protect the princesses, or kill the princesses?" Vanitas asked Xehanort.

"Neither," the old man said. He was smiling and humming to himself. "Light shall fight against the darkness. And when the time is right, the X-Blade will appear!"

"Oookay…" Vanitas crossed his arms and stared at the sea of heartless ringing about them. "So, can I go find somebody to fight?"

Xehanort gave him a dirty look. "Didn't I just say that?"

Vanitas threw his hands up in frustration. "Well excuse me for trying to follow orders! You're making less sense than usual today!" And before Xehanort could punish him for talking back, Vanitas darted off into the heartless to seek out the allies of light.

Xehanort turned about slowly, then made a shooing gesture at the rest of his black-coated vessels. "You don't need to protect the princesses. Our allies know not to harm them. And it doesn't matter if our enemies rescue them. So long as the princesses remain on this world, the outcome will be the same."

The other hooded figures nodded in acknowledgment and began moving out as well.

Xehanort summoned his keyblade to his hand. He held it up high for a moment, so the Gazing Eye in the hilt could get a good view of all that was transpiring. And then he waited, a big smile on his face.

x-x-x

Team Light's primary goal was to rescue the princesses of heart. They could only guess at what Xehanort's intentions were, or what exact actions would lead to the creation of the X-Blade. But it seemed clear that there was no good reason to leave the princesses in the madman's hands.

Accomplishing this plan was going to be a challenge. But the defenders were carving through heartless and nobodies just as quickly as they could. With all of Team Light as yet on the edges of the valley, the Magic Squad could launch large magic attacks into the middle of the valley without fear of striking their allies.

And Team Light had more magical allies, too. Some of Sora friends had confessed that their magic wouldn't work properly on another world. But they were able to temporarily give Sora remote access to their abilities through summoning spells. And with Naminé's power, that summoning ability was extended to all their allies. So Genie, Mushu, Simba, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Ariel were able to lend their strength and powers as well.

Within minutes, most of the smaller heartless were gone. But what remained were Large Bodies, Armored Guards, Behemoths, and the like. Monsters that couldn't be dispatched in a single strike.

And then the Seekers of Darkness reached the defenders.

x-x-x

Sora continued his single-minded onslaught on Riku's nobody. At one point, Xigbar had identified the nobody as "Kurix," but Sora refused to use that name. It was still Riku… or part of him, at least. And Sora was going to get his friend back. All he had to do was defeat the nobody, and then the heart would… _Oh wait, we don't know what happened to Riku's heart yet,_ Sora remembered, suddenly faltering and missing a strike. Kurix was quick to take advantage.

Now Sora was torn – he couldn't let Kurix go after Kairi, but he was afraid now that he shouldn't destroy the nobody, either. They needed to get Riku's heart back. If Riku had become a heartless, then they just needed to destroy the heartless, too. But if his heart had been sealed inside something, like that time the princesses' hearts had been used to create a keyblade… that would make the process of getting Riku back much harder. They might need to keep Riku's body around in order to use magic to search out his heart.

Kurix noted Sora's mental turmoil. "Having second thoughts about destroying me? No surprise there." Kurix took a step back and studied Sora. "It's no fun if you're not really trying. I guess it's time to go see if Kairi will take me seriously."

Sora hadn't even noticed that Xigbar had left several minutes ago. By the time that Kurix was dashing toward Kairi, Xigbar was targeting Roxas and Xion.

Xigbar was mostly focusing on Xion, counting on her to be the weaker one. He balanced on the back of a behemoth and fired at her from a distance. She was able to deflect most of the shots, but couldn't counterattack with her keyblade. The behemoth was moving rapidly, making it difficult for her to aim magic spells at the man on its back.

Roxas finally managed to leap up on top of the behemoth and attack Xigbar directly. Xigbar laughed and jumped off, dodging Roxas. However, that finally put him in range of Xion's keyblade. He quickly stopped laughing and fled to look for higher ground again.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were trying to make their way toward the captive princesses. They were charging through the heartless, dodging as many as they could. But just before they reached the captive women, the teenaged Xehanort leapt down from a flying heartless and sealed them all in a Stop spell.

Team Magic countered the spell with their long range magic. Mickey didn't hesitate a second before rushing and leaping to attack the evil teen.

Close by, Aqua and Ventus were engaged in battle with Xemnas and Ansem the heartless. "My friends," Xemnas was saying cheerfully in his creepy way, "come join us. Embrace the darkness in your hearts, and we can live together in prosperity in paradise."

" _You_ – are not my friend," Ventus hissed. He pummeled Xemnas with a multi-strike with his keyblade. "And I don't want to live in darkness!"

"Some part of Terra still exists, and we will find him," Aqua vowed. "But you _are not_ him!" She launched a light-based spell that enveloped both of them.

In the center of all the fighting, the original Xehanort's eyes brightened and he raised his keyblade to the sky. "The alignment has begun! Now, let the power of darkness grow beyond measure! Swallow up the light! Fulfill the prophecy!"

An aura of darkness swelled out around Xehanort and his keyblade. Tendrils shot out from his keyblade and arced toward his black-coated minions. The tendrils connected with their targets, and all twelve of Xehanort's Seekers of Darkness were surrounded by an individual surge of darkness as well. Then, their powers bolstered, they returned to the attack.

Xigbar's stray shots were now so powerful they tore up the ground and disintegrated any heartless they happened to strike. He was laughing and still targeting Xion, and he was too fast for her to do anything but dodge. A bolt finally caught her in the leg, dropping her to the ground. Xigbar took more careful aim for his next shot, but the slight pause let Roxas catch up to him.

Xigbar took a few hits, then fired at Roxas at close range. The strike sent Roxas tumbling backwards to the ground. Xigbar turned back to Xion, then got blasted by a light-based assault.

He dropped to his knees briefly, but then snarled and prepared to unleash his full strength an Xion. She remotely summoned Genie's power, and the magical barrage overwhelmed him.

Xion couldn't pause to catch her breath. She healed her leg with a potion, then quickly dashed forward to drive back the heartless that were swarming over Roxas. She knocked them all away, then cast a healing spell on her friend.

Something let out a terrible moaning noise. Xion looked up, panicked, but it was just Dr. Finkelstein's monster wandering by. It had a dozen shadow heartless hanging from its shoulders and sitting on its head. It ineffectually swatted at the small creatures, who were strangely determined to stay where they were. Several larger heartless turned to look at it as it passed, but deemed it beneath their notice.

Marluxia and Larxene had ganged up on the trio of former Organization members. While Dilan and Aeleus were mostly keeping the two dark vessels at bay, Ienzo took advantage of an opening to slip away and chase after Vexen.

Lea, meanwhile, was single-mindedly pursuing Saïx. At first, Saïx tried to avoid Lea by targeting the keybearers' other allies. But Lea would not relent and so Saïx was finally forced to face him, which he did in grim silence.

"What? No threats? No quips?" Lea was aiming strikes at Saïx, but his blows were more targeted to disarm than injure. "After everything that's happened, don't you have anything to say?!"

Saïx's lip curled. "You're an idiot. You shouldn't have become involved. I belong to the darkness now." And with that, Saïx threw back his head and transformed into his berserk mode. With a feral cry, he threw himself at Lea and attacked with ferocity.

Lea growled in frustration and dodged as fast as he could, though with only partial success. But he knew how Saïx fought, so even with the power boost, Lea was able to stay just ahead of getting seriously injured.

The non-keybearers had thus far been primarily targeting the heartless and nobodies, whittling down the overwhelming number to something more manageable. But Leon spotting Mickey having difficulty reaching the princesses, so once he dispatched his current target, he dashed over to assist.

Mickey was trying to divide his attention between both Old Xehanort and Young Xehanort. Donald and Goofy were helping as best they could, and clearly most of the Magic Squad was sending their remote aid as well. Mickey saw Leon's approach and called to him, "Get the princesses!" The Xehanorts were thereby informed of the new arrival, but Mickey did his best to keep their attention on himself.

Leon summoned Simba to knock the Xehanorts down temporarily, then he rushed to the princesses and found himself blocked by an invisible wall. He slammed his sword against it, with no success. "What _is_ this?" he muttered. "Can someone help me get this down?" he called out, hoping the Magic Squad might be able to hear and respond.

Mickey came over and tried with his keyblade to break the shield. It wouldn't budge.

"Look out!" a dark-skinned princess called to Mickey, giving him just enough warning to move out of the way of Xehanort's attack. But Leon wasn't quick enough, and was knocked to the ground, stunned.

Back by the exit to the valley, Yen Sid was pale and breathing hard. Unseen to the main fighters, Xehanort kept trying to summon massive, devastating spells, which Yen Sid was continually countering or disrupting. He was a very powerful wizard in his own right, but so was Xehanort. And Xehanort had twisted this world's connection to the planetary alignment, such that all the power flowing into this world was entirely darkness. The increase in darkness was gradually weakening all of the Magic Squad, but they continued on as best they could. Naminé was monitoring all the allies and trying to direct healing and aid to those most in need. But as more allies were faltering, it was getting harder to choose where to direct their dwindling aid.

Ienzo was still conscious, but had cracked ribs. Lea was taking a beating from Saïx, and needed frequent healing. Tifa was getting hit hard while trying to give Cloud and Yuffie time to get back on their feet. Aqua's left arm had been broken, and though already magically mended, was not at full strength. Goofy was unconscious, and Mickey and Donald were needing constant healing themselves.

Meanwhile, Kurix and Kairi were exchanging rapid blows. Thanks to her recent training, Kairi was much better able to keep up than she had previously been. Sora was nearby, too, but unable to help her as he kept needing to focus on the nobodies that Kurix kept calling in to aid him.

Kairi stumbled, and Kurix was immediately next to her, his keyblade to her throat. "And so it ends," he whispered in her ear.

She blasted him back with an enraged light spell, made more powerful by her need and her emotions. Kurix collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Kairi gasped in fright when she saw Sora, pinned in place by two nobodies, and being pummeled by a third. She had temporarily exhausted her magic reserves, so she had to rely on physical attacks with her keyblade. Luckily, it didn't take much to give Sora the advantage. Once one of the nobodies had turned its focus to Kairi, Sora was able to escape the trap, heal himself, and destroy the remaining two with a combo attack.

"You… okay?" Sora asked after an awkward pause.

"Yeah… I think so." Kairi was still panting for breath. She took a quick look around, and saw the growing focus at the center of the valley. "The princesses… we should go help them!"

"Right!" Sora declared. This time, he let Kairi take the lead.

Their path was temporarily blocked by the "expert warrior" monster, trundling by with so many heartless clinging to its torso and shoulders now that it seemed to be wearing a black fur coat… that wriggled and had eyes. The warrior monster was still trying to swat at the heartless, with no effect. Kairi briefly considered trying to aid their "ally," but she decided that it seemed to be holding its own – sort of – and they had more urgent matters to attend to.

Aeleus finally managed to knock Larxene unconscious. His arms were twitching from the amount of lightning he'd been struck by. Close by, Dilan had taken a bad blow from Marluxia's scythe and was sprawled on the ground, arm clutched to his side. Marluxia, oddly, was hesitating when confronted with the opportunity to strike a final blow. Aeleus didn't hesitate. For the first time, he tried the summoning power that Sora had shared with them and called the magical Genie to his aid. The magical onslaught blasted Marluxia back and gave Aeleus the chance to drop to his comrade's side and give him a healing potion.

Lea was on his knees and had propped himself up with his keyblade. Saïx was facing him, giant sword in hand, his hands trembling slightly. Lea had knocked him from his berserk state, but there was still a wild look in his eyes.

"You don't have to do this," Lea whispered.

"Yes, I do!" Saïx countered, clenching his teeth. "Why must you make this so difficult for me?"

"That's what I do… make things difficult." Lea forced a grin. The Magic Squad sent him another remote healing spell. It was enough to let him stand back up, shakily. "Shall we go another round?"

Marluxia crashed in and sent Lea flying with a blow from his scythe. He aimed to finish Lea off with another strike.

"No!" Saïx blocked the blow with his claymore. "He's _mine_ to finish."

Marluxia frowned, but relented. "Very well." He dashed away to go aid Vexen against Aeleus.

Lea was on his hands and knees, staring up hopefully. "Isa?"

Saïx's face twisted into a scowl. He raised his sword, and brought the pommel down on Lea's head, knocking him out. He glanced over quickly to see that Marluxia was thoroughly distracted with his new opponents. Saïx then hurried over to join the growing cluster of people around the princesses.

x-x-x

Vanitas had made token efforts to attack the allies of light – he did have to keep up appearances, after all – but his weakness was growing. The boost he'd gotten from Xehanort's power of darkness had done a little, but not enough.

Riku's mental commentary was not helping him at all, either. Riku naturally didn't want Vanitas to attack _anybody_ , but recognized that Vanitas needed to attack _somebody._ The boy's deliberations over who was strong enough to take a few hits were annoying and pointless. Vanitas didn't have the strength left to go after anyone _strong._ Lea would have been a good choice, but apparently that blasted kid had _specifically promised_ that Vanitas wouldn't touch him. _Stupid Riku._

He spotted Ventus in the distance and felt drawn to his side. But Vanitas had a plan, and he couldn't falter now. Vanitas set himself near the princesses, as though he intended to protect them from being rescued by the forces of light.

There was a growing energy in the air. Vanitas recognized it. He had last felt it when he and Ventus had fought. The pure light clashing with pure darkness, in the wasteland of dead keyblades…

It would be very soon. One way or another, it would all be over. Vanitas just had to hold on until then.

x-x-x

The sensation of darkness suddenly increased tenfold. The defenses that the Magic Squad had been maintaining abruptly collapsed. The aged Xehanort summoned a magical pillar of darkness that seemed to stretch all the way up into the sky. Then it exploded outward, rapidly engulfing everyone in the valley.

All of Team Light were knocked off their feet by the assault. The dark magic temporarily disrupted Naminé's connections, so all the defenders were left on their own to heal themselves. Several didn't get back up. After that initial assault, Roxas and Xion were barely still conscious. Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie had all been knocked out. Aeleus pulled himself to his feet near Dilan and Ienzo, who were both still down. Aqua and Ventus were holding each other up. Goofy was still unconscious, and now Donald was, too. Mickey healed himself first then focused on his companions. Sora gulped down an elixir, then hopped back up to his feet.

Only Kairi was unaffected. It caught her by surprise, but she supposed it was just a part of her powers as a Princess of Heart. She saw Xehanort preparing to cast the spell again, and she knew she had to act. She might be immune to the surge of darkness, but her friends were not. If they got hurt much more, some of their allies might die… Kairi couldn't allow that to happen. Riku would never allow that to happen.

Going up against Xehanort, by herself, was the most terrifying thing she had ever thought of doing, but this was what she had trained for. Kairi ran at the old man and slashed at his side with her keyblade, aiming to disrupt his spell.

Xehanort looked honestly surprised at her assault. He stumbled backward, his incomplete dark spell dissipating, though he still kept his grip on his weapon. "A princess with a keyblade… how did I not foresee this?" he murmured to himself. Then a smile broke over his face. "Let it so be."

"Kairi!" Sora dashed up and threw himself between her and the evil old man. Sora was fast and ferocious in his assault, but Xehanort proved himself equally capable of both speed and power.

Sora was finally sent flying by one of Xehanort's strikes. Kairi rushed forward and slashed at the old man again. He blocked her strike with his keyblade.

Then everything exploded.

Or so it seemed to those standing around them. Xehanort and Kairi were frozen in place, keyblades still locked together. But a shockwave came off of them that threw everyone several meters backwards, affecting defenders, dark vessels, and monsters alike. The heartless and nobodies closest to the shockwave were outright destroyed. The humans and like creatures were temporarily stunned.

A pillar of light rose upward from the two frozen keybearers. The light seemed to tear through the sky, tearing the very fabric of reality. A burst of light emerged from Kairi's keyblade, while simultaneously a burst of darkness came from Xehanort's. The two energy bursts spiraled around each other, upward into the sky, and then finally fused in another explosion of energy. The energy took the form of a connected pair of keyblades – or rather, a single keyblade, with two handles and two shafts that formed an X. The legendary X-Blade descended until it hovered in the air, just over Xehanort's and Kairi's heads. Xehanort reached his left hand, beseechingly, toward the X-Blade, but his right hand was fused to his keyblade, which was still stuck in place to Kairi's. Neither of them could move.

x-x-x

Vanitas dashed and leapt into the air, intending to seize the X-Blade. But Xemnas met him midair and slashed him across the chest with his Ethereal Blades. Vanitas cried out in pain and crashed hard into the ground.

"Oh, Vanitas. Did you think we did not foresee your treachery?" Xemnas cooed.

"Hey!" Sora came up and sent Xemnas sprawling before he could finish Vanitas off.

But it made little difference. The scores in Vanitas's armor were leaking darkness. He didn't have the strength left to even stand.

(Vanitas! Transfer me to Saïx!) Riku yelled at him desperately.

"What?" Vanitas mumbled in confusion. He glanced around until he spotted the blue-haired man. Saïx was standing outside of the active conflicts, staring up at the X-Blade.

(This is our last chance!) Riku said urgently. (Now!)

Vanitas weakly raised his keyblade to point in the indicated direction. Using most of his remaining strength, he threw Riku's heart across space. His vision turned black before he could be certain Riku had made it.

x-x-x

Riku pushed through the dive to Saïx's heart as fast as he possibly could. They had _seconds_ left in which to act. Luckily, the dive itself was clear of heartless this time, letting Riku push his speed as much as he was able.

The world of Saïx's heart was still in shambles. In fact, Radiant Garden seemed slightly worse looking than last time. That didn't bode well for Isa's state of mind. But Riku would address that later. "ISA!" Riku yelled out into the silent town.

Isa, thankfully, was close at hand. "Vanitas? Why are you—?"

"No time. Hold this." Riku shoved his keyblade into Isa's hand. The words were still burned into Riku's mind, even after so many years. "In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

"What? What is—?" Isa didn't slacken his grip on the keyblade, though he stared at it in confusion.

"No time. Hopefully that worked." Riku concentrated and switched his vision to the events of the real world. The X-Blade remained hovering in the sky. Ansem was shaking his right hand, which was smoking. "Oh thank goodness," Riku murmured to himself. He switched his vision back to Isa inside his heart and finally took his keyblade back from the very puzzled man. "I need you to get the X-Blade, Isa," Riku said.

"What? But I… I _can't._ "

"I need you to try!" Riku begged. "If anyone else but you gets it, all the worlds are doomed. You're the only one that Xehanort won't expect and won't try to stop!"

"I'm not worthy to wield a keyblade…" Isa slowly turned away.

"Worthiness isn't just determined by our pasts," Riku said, recalling his own experiences involving poor choices and darkness. "It's mostly determined by our choices in the present. And I believe you _are_ worthy, even if you don't see it in yourself."

x-x-x

Finding both Ansem and Xemnas unable to seize the X-Blade, and his younger self presently unconscious, Xehanort called for Marluxia to retrieve the blade. This ensured that Marluxia was immediately set upon by Sora, Ventus, Aqua, and Mickey. Xigbar, Ansem, and Xemnas immediately came to their companion's aid.

But before that contest could be decided, Saïx took half a step back, then leapt up into the air and snatched up the X-Blade. He landed on the dusty ground with a soft thud, made audible by the sudden stilling of all combatants as they looked on him with either surprise or horror.

Once the X-Blade had been claimed, the force keeping Kairi and Xehanort frozen in place vanished. They each tumbled backwards to the ground. Meanwhile, a new pillar of energy rose up from the legendary keyblade and once again sliced open the sky. From this new fissure emerged a massive pair of white doors that hovered ominously above the battlefield.

"No!" Sora recognized those doors.

"Yes!" Xehanort exulted, his ancient face twisted in unholy joy. "Kingdom Hearts!"

(This keyblade was created to protect the light of Kingdom Hearts,) Riku whispered into Isa-Saïx's mind. (Trust your heart, and trust the keyblade to know what to do!)

Saïx slowly raised the X-Blade to point straight upward, toward the sealed doors. A beam of light shot from the tip of the key into the sky, engulfing the doors, and causing them to slowly ease open.

All the able members of Team Light were trying to attack Saïx now, but the remaining vessels of darkness were united in defending him. Xehanort himself cast another spell of darkness, driving the allies of light back.

The old man was practically dancing with glee. "This is the moment! Now the prophecy will be fulfilled, and darkness shall swallow up the light!" He let his own keyblade dissolve back into his heart. He extended his empty right hand toward Saïx. "Now, give me the X-Blade."

Saïx had not yet changed his pose. He still held the X-Blade in his right hand, pointing straight up over his head. But then at Xehanort's command, Saïx slowly lowered the blade until he held it at chest level, pointing outward toward his dark master. He took a step forward, then another. Saïx looked down at the massive keyblade for a moment, then he looked up at Xehanort. Then Saïx grasped the blade with his left hand and held it steady in a two-handed grip.

Another beam of energy shot forth from the X-Blade – this one aimed straight at Xehanort. It engulfed the ancient man in a halo of light and lifted him off his feet. The doors to Kingdom Hearts gaped open wide, and Xehanort was sucked upward, shrieking, through the doorway. He summoned his keyblade, but it was yanked from his hand and drawn in with him.

As soon as Xehanort vanished from sight, the air whipped into motion, speeding up until it became a massive whirlwind. As one, the vessels of darkness – Saïx included – cried out in pain as darkness flared from their chests. Then they too were lifted off the ground, being pulled toward the white doors by the fragments of Xehanort that dwelled in their chests. Sora tried ineffectually to reach for the closest person – Demyx – but he was already out of reach.

Naminé was already in action, feeling her way outward from the links in Sora's heart to try to keep Xehanort's vessels from being pulled after him. Sora was connected to Ventus who was connected to Xemnas and Ansem, two individuals that, nevertheless, represented one whole person. With that link, Naminé was able to grab hold of the parts of them that were not Xehanort. The tug of war continued and ended abruptly when a dirty orange globe burst out of each man's chest and flew up through the doorway into Kingdom Hearts. Ansem and Xemnas then both fell to the ground, completely limp.

That left the rest of the vessels. Naminé reached out, desperate to try to save at least a few. Though many of them had mistreated her during her time with the Organization, she knew enough now to realize that none of them deserved their fates.

Sora was connected to Riku, who still partially existed in Kurix. Naminé was able to hold onto the nobody's body through her mental links until he, too, was freed from Xehanort's heart and dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Sora was connected to Ventus who was connected to Vanitas. Naminé wrapped her mental grip around Vanitas, pulling back until Xehanort's heart burst free from his chest. Then, to her amazement, Naminé found another set of links branching out from Vanitas's heart. These links went to each of the remaining vessels of darkness. With all her available strength, Naminé stretched her awareness across these new chains and reached for the hearts at each end.

The pressure was immense. But gradually, like the popping of bubbles, orange globes burst from each of the remaining black-coated figures' chests. With the pull upward removed, they dropped back to the ground. The orange hearts flew through the doors of Kingdom Hearts and disappeared. Naminé dropped to her knees, worn out by the effort.

Saïx landed awkwardly and just barely stayed on his feet. He was gasping for breath and was curled inward though he still held the X-Blade with both hands. The tip of the long blade dug into the ground. Slowly, he raised his eyes upward and stared at the gleaming doors up above him. On the opposite side of the doors, darkness began to swirl into the pool of light.

"We've got to close the door!" Mickey called out, directing his words to the keybearers around him. All of them, save Lea, were present and watching Kingdom Hearts with apprehension. "Sora, can you—"

With difficulty, Saïx again raised the X-Blade to point straight upward. A beam of light erupted from the blade and engulfed the doorway to Kingdom Hearts. Slowly, slowly, the doors eased back shut. A boom like an echo of thunder reverberated across the valley when they closed fully. The shape of a keyhole etched itself in the sky, in front of the doors. Then the X-Blade dissolved into pure energy and light, and flew in a ball up to the keyhole. When it connected, the energy, keyhole, and doors all melted away as though they had never been.

And Saïx collapsed without a sound.

x-x-x

"That's… did we do it?" Sora asked, gaping at the clearing sky. The wind was subsiding, and what heartless or nobodies still remained were slipping away through tiny portals of darkness.

"I'm so sorry, Sora," Kairi mumbled in shock. "I didn't mean to—"

Sora put an arm over her shoulder. "It's okay. I think… you did the right thing. I don't understand how it happened, but… we won."

Ventus found his heart drawn to one of the fallen seekers. He approached his dark twin, looking down on him with equal measures pity and suspicion.

Vanitas was copiously leaking darkness now, through the slashes on his chest mostly, but also through his helmet. "Ven…" he croaked, reaching a trembling hand toward his twin.

"Hang in there, I'll heal you," Ventus told his other half sympathetically.

"It's too late…" Vanitas whispered. He extended his hand more desperately. "Don't leave me… _please_ …"

Ventus bent down and grasped Vanitas's hand in a gesture of comfort.

"Finally!" Vanitas gasped in relief. His whole body dissolved into smoke, which coiled and twined its way up Ventus's arm, finally slithering its way into his heart where it vanished.

Ventus gasped in shock, clutching at his chest. His eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness, though Aqua was close enough to save him from hitting the ground hard. Sora and Mickey also rushed to his side, anxiously demanding to know what had just happened.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku found himself in a formless void. The Radiant Garden representation of Isa's heart, and Isa's avatar itself, had both vanished. Nothing remained. Riku strained his senses and could barely detect Isa's heart at all.

Isa was dying, Riku realized grimly.

Riku didn't stop to think about what effect Isa's death would have on him. Nor did he consider what the consequences of his current plan might be. The only thought in his mind was that it _wasn't fair_ for Isa to finally be free, after so many years, just to die before he had a chance to patch things up with Lea.

Riku understood too well how Isa probably felt. Riku had hidden from Sora, after all, even knowing Sora was searching for him. Riku had done everything he could to avoid talking about his actions and choices that had led them to where they were – far from home and fighting against enemies who would gladly destroy them given the chance. Even after Kairi had outed him from his disguise, Riku had still successfully avoided dealing with any of it, up until Xemnas had nearly killed him, and then he and Sora had gotten stuck on a dark beach together with nothing better to do than talk about their feelings.

Riku had fought so hard to avoid that conversation, but it had turned out to be one of the best, most meaningful events in his whole life. And he wanted Isa to have that same opportunity. Even though Isa would likely try to avoid it as well, Isa still deserved to have the _chance._

Summoning his keyblade into his hand, Riku drew on the depths of his strength – all the power of light and darkness that remained in his heart. And then he channeled it into a spell – a spell that was more than just a healing spell. It was a transference of _essence_ and of everything that Riku was able to give. Riku took his _everything_ and poured it into Isa.

He hoped it would be enough. Sleep was enveloping him in heavy, relentless arms. Riku sank down, down into the darkness. He hoped Sora and Kairi would be okay without him. But at least they knew how much he cared about them. He had already made up with them.

Isa needed the chance to make up with his friend. It was only fair…

The last spark of Riku's awareness flickered out into darkness.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Standing alone, off to one side, was a pile of squirming shadows. Occasionally an arm would emerge from underneath and swat uselessly at the heartless.

Jack Skellington observed it thoughtfully. "You know, the doctor did say he gifted his new monster with an _ultimate_ heart – a heart far superior to a natural one." Jack scratched his head thoughtfully. "Looks like the doctor succeeded _too_ well, once again."

Roxas and Xion rushed over to Lea's side and treated their concussed friend with potion after potion until he slurred back to wakefulness and staggered up to his feet. He anxiously checked with his young friends until he was sufficiently reassured as to their wellbeing. Then his memory caught up to him, and he stumbled off, searching desperately for a specific blue-haired man.

Demyx and Luxord very calmly offered up their surrender. They were totally unscathed. The reason being, the defenders soon learned, was that they had flashily summoned their magic but never actually engaged anyone in battle. And they agreed without fuss to be held in temporary custody until it could be determined that they were free of Xehanort's influence.

"Sounds good to me," Demyx declared as the Fairy Godmother bound his hands with magical handcuffs. "I'm more than ready to be done with all of this nonsense."

All the other vessels of darkness were bound as well. At least, those that remained. The teenaged version of Xehanort had faded away, likely pulled back into the time period he'd been drawn from. And incongruously, a suit of armor had come stomping over to Xemnas and Ansem. When it reached them, all three of them had vanished in a flash of light and fused into one unconscious, brown-haired man. Aqua had left off hovering over Ventus long enough to check on this new person, and agreed with the Fairy Godmother that he should be bound, for safety, as well.

Marluxia and Xigbar tried to flee through dark corridors, but the Good Fairies had put up a block against that exit just in time. Once they realized they were trapped, Marluxia had opted to surrender, but Xigbar still put up a fight and needed to be knocked out. The remainder of the dark vessels were unconscious and so were dealt with easier.

"Isa, Isa!" Lea had found his friend and was panicking at him being unresponsive. His forehead was bleeding weakly, a fresh wound present where there had previously been a scar. Lea attempted and failed to cast a healing spell, then fumbled in his pockets in search of potions.

The Fairy Godmother gently laid her wand on Saïx/Isa and cast a healing spell. It fully recovered the wound on his face, and cleaned off the blood as well, though he remained pale and still. She hesitated to bind the man's hands. "He is in poor condition still. I think it best to not compound his discomfort."

"Will he be okay?" Lea asked desperately. Roxas and Xion hovered silently behind him.

"His heart has been damaged by his use of the X-Blade. And by Xehanort too, of course." The Fairy Godmother tutted to herself. "But a light remains within him, and that we can work with. The power of the connection between hearts is vast – don't underestimate it. Just stick close to your friend, and I'm sure he'll have a speedy recovery."

"Thank you," Lea gasped out in relief. He clutched Isa's arm. "You hear that, buddy? I'm sticking with you this time. You're going to be just fine."

Roxas and Xion approached then. Xion knelt without hesitation and took Isa's other arm. Lea was startled and then relieved to see her sign of support.

Roxas hesitated a moment longer, then knelt and put an arm on Lea's shoulder. "Any friend of yours is a friend of mine," he told Lea with great seriousness. Then to the unconscious man, he said, "You're our friend now… Isa. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Sora and Kairi approached them, guiding Kurix between them. "Lea, Roxas – what's wrong with him?" Sora asked, anxiously. Kurix just stared straight ahead, unresponsive. He didn't even seem aware that his hands were bound.

"Zombie…" Roxas murmured, remembering how Axel had described his first week. "He hasn't grown a heart of his own yet. Without Xehanort's heart… there's nothing left inside of him."

"Oh, I was like that my first week or so, too," Xion exclaimed, sympathetic. "Just give him time – he'll get more responsive."

"So he's not hurt," Kairi said, relieved.

"But I don't _want_ him to grow his own heart," Sora protested. "I want _Riku_ back. But I can't just _destroy_ him," he continued, cutting off that potential argument. "Because if his heart has been _trapped_ somewhere, we'll lose any way to trace it!"

"Sora, it'll be okay," Lea told him in a deliberately steady voice. "Kurix will keep Riku's body safe until you can find his heart. As long as you stick close to him, he won't turn out bad. And when his heart returns, it will merge seamlessly. That's how it went for me, and for the other nobodies who came from Radiant Garden. The reason Roxas was different is because he came from _your_ crowded heart, and he got pieces of you, and Ventus, and Kairi all mixed up together. That's why Roxas couldn't merge back with you… because he was never _just_ you.

"But Kurix is the normal case. There was no one living in Riku's heart but Riku. So any memories that Kurix develops from this time will be able to just become a part of Riku when he's recompleted. I promise – Riku will be just fine."

Sora slowly slumped. "Okay… but I wish Riku wouldn't have to remember what happened."

"Well…" Lea shrugged. "It can't be helped. There're things I really don't want to remember either. But we've got our friends to help us move forward." He gently gave Isa's hand a squeeze.

Sora reluctantly reached up and patted Kurix on the shoulder. Kairi reached around and caught both Sora and the nobody in a hug.

"Ahem," Merlin interrupted. "We'd best start moving everyone to a safer world. We have a number of injuries that need some more treating." He nodded meaningfully at Isa.

The bedraggled members of Team Light gathered up the injured and began moving toward the gummi ships or through special portals that the more magical people could summon.

Jack Skellington spared a final glance for the "expert warrior," which had tipped over onto its side. It was still flailing weakly. "I'll tell Dr. Finkelstein you did a good job!" he called to it just before he stepped through a portal to depart.

The expert warrior monster hissed grumpily in response. The heartless continued to swarm all over it. They purred happily.

x-x-x

 _The fated land will be the battleground for a great war. Light will see defeat and expire, while darkness prevails evermore._

So spoke the prophecy, as observed and recorded by the ancient Gazing Eye. Xehanort had committed everything to participate in the moment of its fruition. But the past had been rewritten before. Xehanort himself had done so. Why couldn't it be rewritten again? Xehanort's greatest weakness was never believing in others' powers to act for themselves.

And there was another inherent weakness to this ominous prophecy, on which all fates seemed to rest. The text of the prophecy was limited to what the Gazing Eye itself could see. Trapped now within Kingdom Hearts, the Gazing Eye would behold nothing but darkness forevermore.

x-x-x

In the sky up above, the worlds continued their imperceptible motions. The moment of perfect alignment passed, and the energies on the wasteland world returned to normal. Darkness retreated from the Badlands until the darkness was once again in perfect balance with the light. And up overhead, the stars shone on.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Many thanks again to my sisters for their help proofing this crazy chapter. They told me it reads like a videogame… which I think isn't a bad thing, considering the source material? And also, the Ultimate Warrior monster is dedicated to my husband, who thought it would be funny to include something like it in the final battle. He has been incredibly patient with my writing and my obsessing over this story from the start, and I am very grateful for his support._

 _And also many thanks again to all those who have reviewed, followed, or favorited this story! I've never written something this popular before, and it's been a little scary honestly. I'm very grateful for your show of support and it's been fun to contribute something to the fandom!_

 _One more chapter to go! It miiiight take a little longer than a week to get it up, since I just decided I need to add another scene and I haven't finished writing it yet. But we're almost there._


	11. Chapter 11

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: I'm really sorry this took so long! The original epilogue consisted of the scenes "Day 17" onward, but then when I was finishing up posting chapter 10, I decided I should add the scene I've called "Day 11." This threw off the whole epilogue. I had to rewrite large portions of the chapter and add several more new scenes to make "Day 11" fit._

 _And this also made the epilogue ridiculously long! So I've had to split it in half to make it more manageable for me. The second half doesn't need as much editing, so I should be able to get it up pretty soon._

 _Thanks for your patience! I hope you enjoy!_

Chapter 11: Epilogue Part 1

Day 1 After the Battle for the X-Blade

Yen Sid departed from Radiant Garden in the early morning to go reclaim his tower. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy went with him. That effectively left the keybearers with nothing to do but rest, and by midday, Aqua was restless and anxious to be doing something. Terra (whom she had firmly vouched for) and Ventus were both still unconscious, but under the good fairies' watchful care. Lea wouldn't leave Isa's side, and Roxas and Xion weren't inclined to go anywhere without Lea. So that only left Kairi and Sora that Aqua knew well enough (and trusted enough) to recruit for her errand. After grimly warning them to be prepared for a serious fight, she opened a path and led them to the Land of Departure – the former Castle Oblivion.

They spent the rest of the day searching the castle from top to bottom. They could find no trace of any Riku replicas, or anything else dangerous. The oozy remains of Vexen's experiments had gotten jumbled together in one of the basement rooms, but the greatest hazard it seemed to pose was from the smell. All three of them agreed that they could deal with that later.

 _Or make Even clean it up –_ but Sora kept that thought to himself.

Finally, Aqua admitted there was nowhere else to search, and she switched modes. She gave Kairi and Sora an overview of the history of the Land of Departure and the training of keybearers. Now that peace had been achieved, she considered it her duty to reopen the castle to the training of present and future keybearers, and she intended to start with these two. Together, the three of them checked on all the world's automated defenses and reactivated most of them to satisfy Aqua's paranoia. No being of darkness, Aqua vowed solemnly, was going to catch them off-guard again.

"What about Riku?" Sora spoke up, with growing concern. "He uses the power of darkness… sometimes, anyway. But he's not evil! Are you going to block him from coming here?"

"Terra is the same," Aqua admitted slowly. "Yen Sid and King Mickey have… have had much to tell me on the subject. Especially with regard to Riku's powers. Sora, I would never exclude Riku from this place. Clearly… the teachings of the keybearers will need to be revised. The mere presence of darkness within a person is _not_ an indication of disposition to evil. It's what they choose to _do_ with the darkness that matters. I… I didn't understand that before. Neither did my master. But suppression of darkness shouldn't be the ultimate goal. _Control_ is what Terra needs – like Riku has already achieved…" Aqua trailed off, staring into space as she continued wandering in her thoughts.

Sora and Kairi just agreed enthusiastically. They both could sense a lot of baggage and backstory in Aqua's speech, and they didn't want to get involved more than they had to. They had their own issues to come to terms with, with Riku… and now Kurix.

Finally, exhausted, the trio went back to Radiant Garden. Sora went straight to his designated sleeping pad, in a back room in Merlin's house, and flopped down on it. He noticed the silver-haired nobody sitting against the opposite wall, and said "Hi, Kurix," in acknowledgment.

Kurix's gaze shifted to Sora. He said nothing – he just stared. He didn't even blink.

Sora finally had to roll over and face the other way to escape that relentless gaze. He needed to get some sleep, after all. He just didn't understand why he felt so guilty about doing so…

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 3

The keybearers and their prisoners officially moved to the Land of Departure. When asked, they all pretended that they were moving in order to get out of Leon's hair. (Leon had gotten progressively more withdrawn and grumpy as he had had to keep dancing around all those extra people while trying to take care of his everyday tasks. So the excuse seemed reasonable.)

(But poor Leon was just the scapegoat. The real issue was that Aqua and Yuffie kept nearly coming to blows. But no one was going to admit to it. Especially since Sora hadn't even noticed.)

The prisoners' accommodations were substantially nicer in the Land of Departure, anyway, so they had no cause to complain. In Radiant Garden, they had been housed in an old, drafty jail. Here they got their own rooms, which were practically hotel rooms… albeit that locked from the outside. And that were magically self-contained to prevent their inhabitants from escaping by dark corridor or other magical paths. Not that the prisoners were likely to risk it after their black coats had all been confiscated, but still… better to be a little overly cautious.

Kurix was nearly left behind in Radiant Garden. Roxas only just remembered to go look for him before the last group left. He eventually found the nobody sitting still in a corner in Merlin's house, staring at the wall. Presumably that was where Sora or Kairi had left him. Roxas tried to ask Kurix about it, but got no response. The nobody stood and walked along with Roxas with little prompting, however. Roxas felt a flare of anger at the nobody's treatment, and resolved to confront Sora about it.

By the time Roxas and Kurix had reached the Land of Departure, however, the anger had bled away. Roxas didn't feel like trying to lecture Sora. Sora wouldn't understand Roxas's ire – how could he? _Sora_ had never been a blank slate, thrown into a confusing world and just wanting to understand _who_ he was and _why_ he was…

Roxas insisted that Kurix be given a room of his own, fearful that the nobody might otherwise be left sitting in a corner of the castle's main hall overnight. Roxas showed Kurix to his room and talked to him the whole time, explaining notions such as sleeping when it's dark and getting out of bed when it's light – things that Roxas remembered had confused him during his first few days of existence.

Kurix never said a word in response, but Roxas felt better for making the effort.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 7

Kurix still didn't go anywhere by himself. Someone had to walk him to his room every night and go fetch him every morning, or else he'd remain in his room the entire day. Roxas was usually the one to do so. But either Sora or Kairi had already gotten Kurix up this morning, because the three of them were present in the kitchen, having breakfast. Or rather, Sora and Kairi were talking to each other, and Kurix was poking at some mush in a bowl with a spoon.

"Hey Sora. Kairi." Roxas gave a slight wave, and got similar responses in return. He sat down by Kurix. "You put it on your spoon, put it in your mouth, and swallow it. It's food. Although nobodies technically don't need food."

Kurix stopped poking at the mush and stared at Roxas intently the whole time he was speaking. He really seemed to be listening this time.

Roxas smiled. "Good morning, by the way." He got up and went to go look for something to eat himself. Now that he wasn't a nobody, he _did_ need food. He was still having trouble remembering to act on this fact before a strong, abdominal discomfort would remind him. And the _variety_ of things available to eat! Roxas would have just continued to subsist off of ice cream, except Lea had explained that he couldn't do that anymore or else he'd end up with a _different_ abdominal discomfort…

"Good morning… Roxas."

The familiar voice sent a chill down Roxas's spine. He spun around and looked. Kurix was staring at him. Blankly. Innocently?

Kurix frowned. "Did I… say that right?"

Roxas smiled back, genuinely, while Sora and Kairi both gaped comically. "Yes, that's exactly right, Kurix," Roxas said. "Thank you. A very good morning to you, too!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 11

Isa cried out in his sleep, suddenly waking Roxas who was dozing in a nearby chair. Roxas watched the blue-haired man thrash in his sleep, in the grips of another nightmare. Isa's face contorted in a grimace that seemed typical of Saïx. But Saïx's distinguishing scar was no longer there. Saïx was no longer there. This was Isa now, Roxas reminded himself.

Isa's breathing slowed and so did his movements. He'd had a few other episodes like this in the past few days, but they never lasted long. And Isa never woke up. Until he finally did, Lea had insisted that someone needed to stay with him at all times, so Isa wouldn't wake up alone. Roxas settled back into his chair again. He checked his watch. Two hours left on his shift. Then he could go wake Lea and get some sleep.

Isa started mumbling to himself. His noises became more urgent, and he started wrestling with the blanket. He somehow got his arm tangled in it and seemed to start panicking over it; Roxas hopped out of his chair and hurried over to try to help.

"No, no, please…! Lea, don't–!" Isa's thrashing nearly launched him from the bed. Roxas had to grab him to keep him from falling. Isa's eyes snapped open. "Lea!" Panicky, dilated eyes struggled to focus on Roxas. "Where is Lea?!" Eyes open. Awake. Actually awake!

"Hold on! Just calm down – I'll go get him!" Roxas fled the room. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do. He didn't know how to – didn't want to – deal with Isa like this. His own existence was still confusing enough.

Lea was sleeping of course, and it took shaking and even shouting to awaken him. Once Lea was awake enough to comprehend what Roxas was saying, he was up and out a door in a flash.

Xion, whose room was next door, heard the commotion and joined the group. Together they reentered the room to face a terrified Isa – who probably should not have been left alone _but Roxas was so not ready to deal with this_ and he just wanted to let Lea handle it…

"Lea! You're alive!" Isa's eyes locked onto Lea as though he were his only anchor to reality. He shakily tried to get up from his bed, but Lea met him first and grabbed him in a hug

"Me? Yeah, I'm _fine!_ We were all really worried about you! Whoa, easy there – I've still got a couple of bruises…" Lea added the last part as Isa's desperate grip became a little too tight.

Isa let go reluctantly. After visually inspecting Lea for any signs of injury and finding none, Isa was adequately satisfied. He then took a moment to look over at the others. "Roxas. You're… Roxas, aren't you?" Isa finally was able to focus on and recognize the one who'd been present at his awakening.

"Yeah. It's me." Roxas gave a little wave and forced a smile that he tried to make reassuring.

Isa looked as awkward as Roxas felt. He clearly didn't know what to do with this situation, either. "Oh. Hello again. Are you… how are you doing?"

"Oh. I'm… just fine. Thanks." Roxas glanced to Lea for some sort of guidance, but all he got was an amused smirk.

Isa finally noticed Xion. He stared at her, eyes wide and unblinking for a long moment. Xion was wearing her black coat again – she still preferred its familiarity over normal clothes. It hadn't bothered anyone else, but Isa was put on edge. "Who are you?" he snapped at her. "And what are you doing here?"

Roxas surged forward. "That's _Xion_. And you'd better be nice to her!"

Isa continued staring at her, frowning now. "You have a _face_ ," he declared in confusion.

"Of course she has a face!" Roxas snapped.

Isa glanced over at Roxas, apparently bewildered by his outburst, then looked to Lea. "Did Xion always look like this to you?" he asked his old friend.

"Um…" Lea scratched the back of his head as he tried to recall. "I thought so? But I guess she kept her hood up all the time at first…"

"She always looked like herself to me!" Roxas insisted.

"Roxas, Axel – it's okay," Xion said with a gentle smile. "Sai—er, Isa is right. I didn't have my own form at first. And as I grew stronger, different people saw different things when they looked at me. Roxas, don't you remember the time that I looked like Sora?"

"But—!" Roxas frowned, failing to find a counter argument. Remembering that very confusing day made him feel uncomfortable.

"I wasn't a normal nobody," Xion reminded him. "I wasn't like you. I didn't have my own identity before – but now I do."

"Huh," Lea declared after a pause. "What did Xion look like to you, then?" he asked Isa.

"An empty coat. With nothing inside but shadows." Isa shook his head, then finally broke off from staring at Xion. "It was really creepy seeing you fawning over such a thing. I thought you were losing your mind. But if… if _she_ looked like this to you, then your behavior makes much more sense. She was always a person to you." He glanced over at Xion again, his face now more thoughtful. "I am sorry for the way I treated you," he said, slow and evenly.

"It's alright," Xion said cheerfully. "It wasn't really you, anyway. You're different from Saïx. Axel and the other organization members have already explained to me how it works. You don't owe me any apologies for what Saïx did or said back then."

"It still needs to be said," Isa said with complete seriousness. "He was still a part of me, and it wouldn't be right for me to leave such a wrong uncorrected."

"Aw, you're such a sweetheart!" Lea bent over to give Isa a one-armed hug. "I missed the real you so much! Saïx was always so cold and wouldn't even _pretend_ to care about anyone!"

"He literally couldn't," Isa reminded Lea, wincing at the memory.

Lea felt the reflexive movement and immediately released Isa, studying his eyes anxiously. "How are you feeling? Is everything all right?"

"I… I don't know. _Am I?_ How would I know?" He started scrubbing one hand across his face and suddenly froze. His hand rested over the bridge of his nose. "Lea… I need to know—"

"The scar is gone," Lea assured him. He grabbed Isa's hand and moved it to one of his ears. "And your eyes are _green_ and your ears aren't pointy anymore. You're completely human now."

Isa traced the rim of his ear, needing to verify its shape for himself. "I believe you, but… I need to see it myself. Do you have a mirror?"

Lea spun around quickly, checking the room for anything sufficiently reflective. "I'll go find you one," he declared as he ran out the door.

This left Isa alone with the two special nobodies whose only experience with Isa had been as Saïx. He fidgeted with the edge of his blanket inbetween shooting nervous glances up at them.

Roxas sighed loudly. "We're not going to attack you. We don't want… revenge or anything like that. It's just kind of weird for us, thinking we knew you, and then finding out you're really someone completely different."

Isa nodded and continued fidgeting with the blanket. "Lea and Axel… were not all that different."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Roxas said drily, rolling his eyes. "He still loves doing stupid stuff."

Xion giggled. "But Lea is nicer. And he doesn't try keeping secrets from us."

"You mean, you haven't caught him at it yet. Lea has always had his secrets," Isa said seriously. Then he rethought what he had just said and flushed. "I mean… he wouldn't keep anything serious from you two! You're his best friends…" he trailed off.

"So are you, Isa!" Xion insisted.

Isa just sighed and slumped his shoulders. He went back to staring at his blanket.

That was when Lea came back. "I found one!" he declared, brandishing a mirror. "Take a peek!" He was so enthusiastic he almost accidentally hit Isa in the face with it.

Isa reacted quickly and grabbed the mirror before it hit his nose, clearly anticipating Lea's careless action. Without comment, he stared at his face for several long moments.

Finally Lea got bored. "Yes, you're gorgeous," he declared, yanking the mirror away. "So, do you believe me now?"

"I already said I believed you… I just needed to see it myself." Isa slowly eased himself back down onto his pillow and dragged his blanket up to cover his chest. "It just all seems too much like a dream… like none of this is real…"

Lea shifted uncomfortably. Then he forced a laugh. "Of course this is real! I mean, you never had _this_ good of an imagination, right?"

"Ouch," Isa said with a dry smirk, while closing his eyes. "Real high esteem there, Lea."

Lea fidgeted some more. "Isa, are you doing all right?"

"Just tired…" Isa mumbled, clenching his eyes closed tighter.

"Oh… okay. We'll, um… we'll just let you rest for a while."

"Thank you, Lea."

Frowning, Lea, rubbed at the back of his neck. Then he shrugged, and motioned for Xion and Roxas to follow him out. Once out in the hall, they locked the door behind them, locking Isa in.

Isa's eyes snapped open once he knew they were gone. He sat up on the bed and drew his knees to his chest tightly. Finally, he released the tight hold he had on his emotions and let himself break down sobbing.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 17

Roxas and Kurix sat up on a high ledge, overlooking the castle in the Land of Departure, just enjoying the view below. In silence, they observed Sora going through some training exercises, supervised by Aqua. After a few minutes, Kairi came out and sparred briefly with Sora. No sound of the battles carried far enough up to reach the watchers. The loudest noise they could hear was the trees overhead rustling gently in the breeze.

"Where did you go?" Kurix finally asked, without preamble. "It's been days."

"Sorry, I was on a mission, and it ran longer than expected," Roxas explained. "We figured out which world another of the princesses had come from, so we were escorting her back home. And then we had to help give explanations for where she'd been…" Roxas trailed off. Kurix still showed little facial expression. It made him hard to read. Roxas didn't know if the nobody was actually interested in hearing the details of his trip or not. He decided to jump to another subject. "What did you do while I was gone?"

"Nothing really. I just stayed in my room. Sora and Kairi came to see me a few times. But they don't tell me about what's going on. All they want to talk about is past memories with Riku."

Roxas winced in sympathy. "You don't have to stay inside, you know. You can go other places."

Kurix shrugged. "There's nowhere I feel like going. I still… can't really feel anything. I remember that I cared about my home. But I can't go back there like this…"

Roxas made a sympathetic noise. They both sat in silence for a while, admiring the view. It seemed strange for a world to be so green, and with a sky so blue. Sitting on this ledge brought to mind all the time he'd spent on the clocktower in Twilight Town.

And now he wanted ice cream. Maybe he could persuade Lea or Xion to go to Twilight Town with him to get some…

"How are… the others doing?" Kurix eventually prompted.

"Oh! Right… Well, Isa's doing a lot better now," Roxas informed Kurix. "He's still having nightmares a lot. But he's not sleeping all day anymore. So that's good." Isa still was reluctant to talk to anybody except Lea, but it was still progress. Roxas moved down the mental checklist. "Terra's also doing a lot better. Yen Sid decided that he doesn't need to stay locked up anymore."

"Terra?" Kurix asked with a frown.

"Oh yeah, you remember the guy who was reformed from Ansem, Xemnas, and an angry suit of armor? That's Terra. He… he thinks he remembers you, from a long time ago."

"Oh. Terra is his name? Yes, I remember him. He gave Riku his keyblade." Kurix frowned slightly in thought. "Riku always wondered what happened to him…"

"Huh. Well, now you know!" Roxas forced an awkward laugh. Terra had been extremely traumatized from his long possession and… separation into multiple pieces. He had also taken Riku's current condition extremely personally and was determined to blame himself. Everyone had decided it was for the best to keep Terra and Kurix apart for now.

"And Ventus?" Kurix prompted.

Roxas winced. "He… still doesn't remember anything from after he and Vanitas were split apart. But it turns out, he knew Marluxia in his first life. The two of them were friends, if you can believe it. So they've been pretty happy talking to each other, catching up on events… and swapping horror stories about Xehanort…" Marluxia's somebody – Lauriam, he was calling himself – was only calm around Ventus. The rest of the time, he became extremely panicky and agitated. Like Terra, he was clearly suffered lingering effects from his treatment at Xehanort's hands. But unlike Terra, Lauriam wasn't coping as well.

"And everyone else?" Kurix prompted after Roxas became lost in thought again.

"Oh, um…" Roxas started mentally running down the list of the original Organization Thirteen to remind himself who he hadn't mentioned yet. "Xigbar… I guess he's Braig now… is still locked up. It seems like he was knowingly helping Xehanort from the start, so we can't really trust him.

"Dilan, Aeleus, and Ienzo are back home. Mickey decided that Vexen – Even – was recovered enough to go back with them. So they're all doing fine.

"Demyx and Luxord – I forgot their real names – are still here. I guess their worlds are still sleeping, lost in the darkness, so they can't go home yet. Yen Sid is working on finding their worlds so Sora can restore them. I might even get to help, if Yen Sid thinks I'm ready." Roxas was honestly pretty excited at the prospect. It would be his first time to go on a mission that would actually _help_ the worlds. Escorting the princesses home was important too, of course, but it was still just clean-up work, rather than doing something _new._ "Oh, and Larxene is still here, too. Arleen, I mean. But she's… actually nice now. It's pretty weird. She was really mean to me as a nobody." Roxas shuddered involuntarily at the memory. "Anyway, she's not sure, but she thinks she came from the same world as either Luxord or Demyx, so she's waiting with them. But she's also pretty smart, so she might end up staying between worlds and helping Yen Sid or Mickey with stuff. She's… been trying to work with Naminé a bit, looking for ways to search for your heart." Roxas frowned a bit.

Kurix nodded in understanding. "You shouldn't get upset by it, Roxas. I _do_ want to get my heart back."

Roxas exhaled loudly. "I know! It's just…"

Kurix studied Roxas's face. "You really hate Riku, don't you?"

"No! I don't _hate_ him! I just…"

"Really, really don't like him," Kurix concluded for him. He frowned at Roxas. "Does that mean you won't be my friend anymore, once I get my heart back?"

Roxas swallowed wrong and started coughing. It saved him from having to answer Kurix.

But Kurix just waited, patiently. Once Roxas had settled back down, Kurix said, "I remember fighting you, as Riku. Do you hate Riku for taking your life away?"

"I told you, I don't _hate_ Riku. I just…" Roxas trailed off again. "I don't know what I'm feeling, okay?! He makes me so angry that I just want to punch him in the face!" Roxas slammed a fist into the ledge. "But I don't _really_ want to hurt him because I know he's Sora's friend and he's really important to Sora. Does that make sense?"

"No. But then, I'm not able to understand that sort of thing anyway. You need a heart to understand feelings, I think."

"You _do_ have a heart," Roxas countered sharply.

"Not enough of one," Kurix shot back. "I can _remember_ having feelings, but… that's all. Sora and Kairi are my best friends… but I feel nothing when I'm with them. Same with anyone else. Same with you."

"Why do you agree to spend time with me, then?" Roxas scowled at him. "If our time together means nothing to you?"

"Because Riku always wished he had gotten to know you better." Kurix still spoke utterly dispassionately. "So I want to spend time with you because that was something he wanted to do."

Roxas was shocked into silence. Kurix was content to let the silence stand this time. They stayed where they were, watching people walking around the castle below, and enjoying the breeze through the trees, until the sun started to set. Then at that point Roxas stood and started walking Kurix back inside for the night. With Kurix content to walk in silence, Roxas was left to his own thoughts.

All the allies of light had asked the former dark vessels what had happened to Riku, of course. That was almost the first thing they had done once they had gotten everyone settled in Radiant Garden. And each of the former vessels had given a very similar account of Riku being struck down… and then Vanitas removed Riku's heart and claiming it for himself. But no one knew what Vanitas had done with the heart after that. Vanitas was no longer around to ask, and Ventus didn't even remember his own time with Aqua and Terra yet, let alone have access to Vanitas's memories.

Sora had checked right away to see if Riku's heart had transferred to Ventus. But Yen Sid and Naminé quickly helped confirm that there was only one heart within Ventus. There was no sign of Vanitas, either – but everyone assumed that at least _some_ of Vanitas must have fused back into Ventus in order to cause the youth's new short-term amnesia and recovery of previously-lost memories.

Everyone was concerned that Riku's heart might have somehow slipped into Kingdom Hearts, along with Xehanort and all his copies, during the final fight. Naminé was no longer to feel any trace of Riku's presence, which did lend weight to their fears that Riku was really lost. But they hadn't given up yet. There was still the possibility that Vanitas had transferred Riku's heart to somewhere else. And Merlin said that he had seen a potential future with Riku in it. So there was still hope.

There were more extreme measures – involving complicated time travel – that might succeed in getting Riku's heart back. Yen Sid was already starting to look into the process. The former dark vessels all believed Xehanort had done something of the sort to revive Vanitas in the first place, so it should be possible.

And there was also chance that the replica of Riku might be able to help them somehow – like giving them a starting point to track or summon Riku's heart. If they could ever find him – or _them_.

There were still no signs of any of the replicas, in spite of continued efforts to search. Sora was certain that at least one must have escaped. Naminé said that she had taught the original replica how to make dark corridors – any of the duplicates would have that skill as well. And it made sense that if all the heart fragments had reunited into a single replica, then once whole, he would be free from Xehanort's influence and could head off to wherever he pleased. Which of course meant that the replica could be _anywhere_ by now – thus creating another potential wild goose chase for the keybearers go on in their quest to save the original Riku.

But in the meantime, Roxas was in no hurry for them to get Riku back, and he was feeling a little guilty about it. At least, he felt guilty every time he was around Sora. But something just felt _right_ about him taking Kurix under his wing, the way Axel had done for him when he had first awoken as a nobody. Roxas was enjoying the chance to nurture this new being, and he found himself dreading the transition that would make Kurix cease to be.

It was Roxas's own fault for getting attached to the nobody, he knew. Many of the others had been avoiding Kurix for just this reason. But it just hadn't seemed fair to have Kurix have to exist for who-knows-how-long of a time and not have anyone want to treat him like he mattered. How horribly lonely it would be to exist and know that _no one really wanted you_ – they just wanted the person that would be created from you.

Roxas saw Kurix to his room, and then he continued on downstairs. Kurix was sleeping a lot still – he wasn't very strong as a nobody. It was just another reason that made Roxas feel protective of the fledgling nobody.

x-x-x

Roxas headed downstairs and found Xion and Lea in the kitchen, working on pan frying a mountain of potstickers. Roxas helped himself to several of the finished ones.

Lea laughed and waved at him. "Roxas! Have I got a story for you! That princess that Mickey, Xion, and I escorted home? She said she got turned into a _frog_ once!"

Roxas made an incredulous face. "Whaaat? No way! You're just making that up!"

"No, it's true!" Xion proclaimed with a giggle, then she launched into the tale. Lea threw in frequent embellishments. The trio spent the next few hours together laughing, swapping stories, and eating way too many greasy but delicious potstickers.

The hour grew later, they finally got the kitchen all cleaned and back in order, and then Xion excused herself to head to bed.

"I think I'll… go see how Isa's doing." Lea awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I should have saved him some food…"

"I'll come with you," Roxas offered. He followed Lea down the now-familiar path to the basements where the castle had recovery rooms that locked from the outside.

Maybe it was slightly paranoid, but they were still locking up their "guests" at night, and only letting them out during the day when accompanied by an authorized person. Isa, Lauriam, and Terra were still prone to panic attacks or sudden violent outbursts when upset, after all. Keeping them contained helped limit their ability to injure others… or themselves. And except for Braig, all the prisoners had all been very understanding and hadn't complained about the accommodations.

And Braig… well… Braig was still insulting and threatening everyone at every opportunity, so no one wanted to trust him, anyway.

Lea and Roxas reached Isa's room. The door was unlocked, and no one was inside.

Lea was more than a little overprotective when it came to Isa, so he immediately panicked. "Where is he?! Did someone take him out? Is he okay?!"

Roxas grabbed his tall friend's shoulder. "Lea, calm down. We'll find him. I'm sure he didn't go far."

Over an hour later, Roxas was rethinking his assessment of the situation. They had searched the whole basement, twice. They had checked in with all the other prisoners/guests to see if they knew where Isa had gone. They didn't.

Braig snidely suggested that maybe the lost man had gone to look for Xehanort.

They ignored him. Or tried to.

At the point they needed to check the upper floors, Lea and Roxas had started waking up the others to help them in their search. Roxas was starting to actually get concerned. What if Braig had been _right?_ What if Isa had been overwhelmed by the darkness and was becoming Saïx again? What would Saïx do now?

Saïx would take revenge on everyone that had helped stop Xehanort. But Isa was still physically weak. All the keybearers would easily be able to defend themselves against him. So there was no reason to worry about any of them.

Roxas's thoughts went back to Kurix. Isa going evil was a long shot, but Kurix was the only one unable to defend himself. Roxas decided it made sense that he should go and make sure his friend was all right.

Kurix's door was slightly ajar. Roxas pushed it open and saw Isa standing beside the bed, pointing a blade at the sleeping Kurix.

"What are you doing?!" Roxas rushed into the room, keyblade in hand.

Isa dropped his weapon in fright and stumbled backward. He looked around as though disoriented. Then his eyes focused on Roxas with weapon in hand, and Isa immediately summoned a dark corridor and slipped through.

"What's going on?" Kurix asked. Of course, there was no way even he could sleep through that.

Roxas thought backwards through what he had just seen. Isa had been wearing only pajama pants – not even any shoes. He had been pointing a weapon at Kurix, but he had been standing there motionless until Roxas startled him. And he had looked confused by where he was after Roxas had yelled at him. Was Isa sleepwalking? Roxas had only recently learned that that was a thing – courtesy of Terra doing some weird things at night, like trying to tear a hole in the wall with his bare hands.

And now Isa was gone, running off through a dark corridor with no protective clothing on. Roxas buried his face in his hands. Lea was going to be furious.

Lea was certainly upset, but he kept his temper under control. Roxas still wasn't used to the differences in behavior between Lea-with-a-heart and Axel-with-a-partial-heart. Lea was a lot more patient and forgiving. "I know you didn't mean to scare him off," Lea said to Roxas, trying to comfort _him_. "We just need to try to figure out where he would have gone."

"But he… he took a dark corridor. Without his coat."

Lea winced. "Well, hopefully once won't hurt too him bad. We'll grab his coat to take with us, too."

"But where do we look for him?" Roxas pressed, feeling even more guilty since Lea was taking this so calmly. "He wouldn't go to Twilight Town, would he?"

"Hmm, probably not. That was our place. Let me think." And Lea continued to think in silence all the way back downstairs to the storage room to grab Isa's coat. Once he had the coat in hand, Lea summoned a dark corridor and beckoned Roxas through.

"You think you know where he is?" Roxas emerged out onto the other side. They were in a very familiar looking white and gray corridor. "The World that Never Was?" he asked in surprise.

"You see, unless he had a mission, Saïx never really went anywhere. He always stuck around the castle. So if he was panicked and went somewhere without thinking, I figure he'd probably be here." Lea led them to a few different places: the infirmary, the gray room, Saïx's room, Axel's room. "Hmm." Lea made a face. "It smells weird in here."

"That would probably be your fault," Roxas said.

Lea shrugged. "Whatever." He summoned another dark corridor and stepped through. Roxas followed.

There were in the center of the White Room. "Where Nothing Gathers" is what Xemnas had named it. Demyx had always called it the throne room.

Lea looked upward. "I knew you liked your chair a lot, but seriously? _This_ is where you choose to hang out?"

"Lea." Isa was huddled in his throne, looking rather pitiful. He stared down at them in confusion. "Why are you here?"

"Looking for you, obviously." Lea dark-portalled his way up to Isa and perched himself on the armrest. He handed Isa the coat. "Roxas guessed you were sleepwalking?"

"I'm… sorry for scaring you," Roxas said, trying to mean the words. "What were you doing in Kurix's room?"

"I… I don't know." Isa shook his head and rubbed his face with both hands. "I thought I was just dreaming again. There was something I needed to do. But then _you_ where there and I…"

"Sleepwalking," Roxas affirmed, feeling a bit embarrassed that he had let himself trust Braig over Isa. "I'm really sorry I yelled at you. You just… you had your weapon out and I was worried. Do you remember that?"

Isa stared blankly down at Roxas. He shook his head again.

"How did you get out of your room, anyway?" Lea asked. He helped Isa put the black coat on to speed up the process. "Did we forget to lock the door?"

"No, I just… I went to the door, and it opened for me."

"That… doesn't make any sense." Lea frowned.

Isa hugged his legs to his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble."

"It's… it's okay." Lea put an arm around Isa's shoulder. "It was just a little sleepwalking. Terra does it all the time. And no one got hurt – especially you – so everything is fine. Let's just get you back home. I'll stay with you tonight, if you'd like."

"O-okay."

Lea made a dark portal that swallowed up himself and Isa. Roxas made his own and went back to their new castle.

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _You know, I just realized that it's a shame I only have one more chapter. It would be great to finish the story with a full 13. Hahaha, oh well. I'm not going to stretch the story for the sake of number of chapters._


	12. Chapter 12

**Afterdeath**

 _Author's note: Xemnas is a Gemini. I don't know why – it just popped into my head while I was trying to edit this thing. It sounds cool, I dunno. Between holidays and getting sick repeatedly, my brain is sort of fried, haha. Don't worry; I had my sisters proof this chapter to make sure it makes more sense than my author's notes. :)_

Chapter 12: Epilogue Part 2

Day 18 After the Battle for the X-Blade

Late the next morning – after all those involved in the late-night search had finally gotten some sleep – Isa abruptly asked to speak to Naminé, and declined to give any explanation. Lea and Xion were surprised, and Roxas was a little suspicious, but they helped him locate her outside, in a small garden where she liked to sit and draw.

"Uh, good morning, Isa," Naminé had said, trying to hide her nervousness. Isa was very tall and still pretty intimidating. Smiling might help him to seem friendlier, but he looked like he hadn't figured that out yet.

"How would you know if you had another heart inside of you?" Isa asked, skipping any pleasantries.

"Another heart?" Naminé echoed, surprised by such a question.

"Isa, Xehanort's _gone_ ," Lea tried to assure him. "We already checked."

"You checked for Xehanort's influence. What if there was another?" Isa pressed. "Naminé, could you tell?"

Naminé hesitantly approached him and held up a hand. Isa crouched down to let her reach his chest. Naminé gently touched her hand over Isa's heart and closed her eyes. She was silent a long moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh!" Her eyes opened and she pulled her hand back. "You _do_ have another heart sleeping inside you!"

Isa sighed and straightened back up. "That would explain a few things. Can you tell whose it is?"

"No." Naminé frowned. "It's like it's shrouded… oh!" Her eyes widened. "Roxas, can you come here?"

"Why?" Roxas nevertheless came closer as requested.

"I need to check your connections," Naminé said with a smile.

"Uh, okay…"

Naminé placed a hand on Roxas's chest and a hand back on Isa's. She didn't explain what she was doing, and just focused intently for a minute. At last, she straightened and beamed at them. "It's Riku's heart! The link has been blocked, but I can feel the resonance between the heart and his body!"

"Why would you have Riku's heart?" Lea asked Isa before Roxas could get the words out.

"I really don't know." Isa shook his head. "But I thought I'd… I'd dreamed hearing another voice in my head. Someone telling me to grab and use the X-Blade. And then I was drawn to Kurix, so that made me wonder…"

"But… this is great news!" Xion exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "We need to go tell Sora!"

"Right…" Roxas couldn't make himself sound enthusiastic. He was feeling some strange, nameless emotion. Like he was going to be sick…

–––

You couldn't tell Sora anything without him telling everyone else under the sun. So all the keybearers in the Land of Departure were gathered in the main hall to watch the ceremony.

Roxas hovered on the outskirts of the group, behind Aqua, Ventus, Terra, and Xion. Kurix was right at the center, beside Sora and Isa, waiting patiently. Naminé and Kairi waited on either side of them. Lea hovered at Isa's shoulder. As soon as Sora summoned the Key to Return Hearts, Isa visibly blanched. Lea put a hand on his shoulder to steady his friend as he murmured reassurances.

"This won't hurt you at all," Sora reassured Isa. "I've already used it on myself twice and it was fine. Your own heart won't be touched."

Isa was still breathing about twice as fast as normal. He nodded quickly. "Just do it."

Sora moved extra slowly, and with great care touched the tip of the keyblade to Isa's chest. He nibbled on the tip of his tongue as he focused. "There! See Isa? You're okay." Sora withdrew the keyblade, then frowned as he saw he had pulled out a black orb.

Naminé stepped forward. "There's the blocking spell. I can take care of that." She waved a hand over the orb, and the darkness melted away. Now what remained was a normal-looking, golden heart orb. "He should be all right now."

Sora turned to Kurix. "You ready?"

"Yes." Kurix gazed at the glowing heart longingly. "I'm ready to be whole."

Sora stepped forward and transferred the heart back to its proper body. It fused in seamlessly. Then the body closed its eyes and sank to its knees.

Sora tossed the keyblade aside and it clattered across the floor, forgotten. Sora dropped to his knees beside his friend. "Riku? Riku? Can you hear me?" He grabbed Riku and shook his shoulders. "Riku?!" Sora was getting louder.

Riku wrenched open one eye. "Ugh, Sora… I heard you the first time. Stop yelling in my ear."

"You're all right!" Sora yelled, even louder.

Riku winced. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired…"

"Oh! Hold on, Riku! Curaga! And… curaga!" Sora pelted Riku with healing magic. "Panacea! And… cura!"

"Okay, okay!" Riku swatted at Sora. "I'm awake now!" He opened both his eyes and slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position on the floor. Kairi bent down to give him a big hug, and Sora threw himself forward to join in as well. They all ended up falling over. Riku laughed. "I missed you guys, too."

"Hey, um… Not that I'm complaining or anything. But how did you end up in Isa's heart?" Lea asked the giggling pile of people.

"Oh. It's kind of a long story." Riku turned serious. He pushed himself back up to sitting once he could convince his friends to let go of him. "I guess Vanitas hasn't been around to explain things."

"Um, no," Ventus said. He tapped his chest. "I guess what's left of him is in here, but I haven't been able to access it yet."

"Hmm." Riku looked thoughtful a moment. Then he smirked. "Hey, Vanitas? Are you ready to admit my plan was better than yours?"

"Shut up! You're still an idiot!" Ventus snapped at him. He then looked completely bewildered. "Um… I'm sorry! I didn't really mean that…"

"Vanitas is definitely in there." Riku laughed. Sora offered him a hand to help him stand, which Riku accepted. Riku then looked around at the group with a smile. "Well, since everyone is already here, I'll tell you the story. It really starts with Vanitas deciding he hated Xehanort and wanting to make sure he failed…"

Roxas slipped out the doorway and headed outside. As curious as he was to know what had happened to Riku, he felt like he needed some time alone.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 21

Roxas sat on the clock tower in Twilight Town, brooding. He heard the sound of someone else walking up beside him. He looked up, hopefully, expecting it to be Lea.

It was Riku.

Roxas turned away. "Leave me alone."

"You've been avoiding me," Riku said, sitting down beside Roxas. "I had to ask Lea where you might be."

Roxas clenched his teeth. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"I do remember my time as Kurix, you know," Riku said pointedly.

Roxas finally, grudgingly looked over at Riku. "You've cut your hair."

"I don't like looking like one of Xehanort's vessels."

"You had your hair long when you were running around in a stolen coat and a blindfold," Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah, well I wasn't exactly taking good care of myself at the time." Riku frowned at the memory. He fixed his gaze on an unspecified point in the distance. "I really am sorry for what I did to you. Kidnapping you, and helping DiZ keep you locked up in that fake world…"

"It's fine," Roxas said shortly.

Riku gave him an incredulous look. "No, it isn't. I can see it's not fine. It was a horrible thing to do to you, and I can see you're not over it." Riku looked back into the distance again. "I want to fix this. I want to make things be okay between us."

Roxas was silent a moment, then made a grunt of irritation. "I _don't know_ why it's so hard for me to be around you! I _don't know_ what these things are that I'm feeling and I _don't know_ what they mean!"

Riku nodded in sympathy. "Feelings can be like that, sometimes. Sometimes, you just have to _decide_ what you want to feel… and work with it until you finally do." Riku pulled a large, plain pouch out of his pocket and handed it to Roxas. "This is yours."

"What is it?" Roxas hefted it. It was heavy.

"5000 munny. I owe you." Roxas smiled sardonically. "I also owe you a blue crystal, but I think Sora still has yours."

Roxas's mouth hung open. "You still remember…"

"Of course I do. I felt bad about it. But DiZ was too lazy to make a fake beach, so I had to keep you from going. I'm really sorry about all that."

Roxas shook the heavy bag. "And what am I supposed to do with this now?"

"Go to the beach." Riku shrugged. "Take all your new friends. Take those kids from Twilight Town, too, if you want."

"They don't remember me."

"Their data versions were patterned after their real hearts. If they liked you as data people, they'll like you are real people, too."

Roxas felt his throat tighten. He hadn't considered that he might be able to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette again. He had just chalked them up as more friends he had lost… "And what about you?"

"What about me?" Riku asked.

"Will you come to the beach with us, too?"

"You want me to come with you?" Riku looked honestly surprised.

"Well yeah." Roxas folded his arms. "When else will I get the chance to throw you into the surf?"

Riku snorted. "So that's how it is? Well, all right then. But will you be inviting Sora and Kairi, too?"

"Sure, why not. That's how it works now, doesn't it? We're all friends, right? Isa, too. He seems like he could use a good beach trip."

"Yeah, he probably could," Riku agreed. He was silent a moment. "Twilight Town's beach is pretty nice. I checked it out once… after DiZ wouldn't let you go. I was curious why he didn't want to recreate it. I think he was just being lazy."

"DiZ was… pretty cruel to Naminé, too."

"Yeah, he was." Riku winced. "I'm sorry I just went along with what he said. Believing him, that you didn't have hearts and couldn't feel anything. I should have known better, but I was just so worried about getting Sora back..."

"You don't need to keep apologizing. I get it. And I probably would have done the same… for one of my friends…" And that was the truth, Roxas realized. He couldn't really blame Riku for what he had done. He was still angry about everything that had happened… but Riku wasn't really at fault. Riku was just an easy target. But not the right one. It was more DiZ that Roxas really wanted to be angry at… but DiZ had eventually come around, too, and had gifted them the research that allowed Roxas and the other nobodies to come back as real people…

Maybe he just needed to let this anger go, altogether.

But Riku was still fun to mess with. "You're buying the snacks for this beach party, by the way."

Riku stared at him, aghast. He gestured to the brown pouch. "What about _that?_ "

"You already owed me this. This doesn't count." Roxas waggled a finger at him.

Riku groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'd better go find some heartless to beat up before the trip."

"You do that." Roxas grinned remorselessly. "Oh, and if Kurix is still in there, tell him I say hi."

"Kurix says hi, and says he still doesn't understand you. _I_ , on the other hand, think Lea is being a terrible influence on you."

Roxas laughed. "I'll tell Lea you think so. I'm sure he'll be proud."

x-x-x

Riku made a point of seeking Isa out later that day. With Isa's odd behavior explained, everyone figured they could trust him out on his own now, so Isa had taken to wandering the castle in the Land of Departure by himself. It took Riku a while, but he finally found Isa in one of the upper rooms.

"Oh. Hello, Riku," Isa greeted the youth once he noticed him. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I just wanted to see how you're doing. I… I saw some of your memories, when I was in your heart. I didn't want to bring it up in front of the others. But I saw how Xehanort was manipulating you, to try to make you give up hope."

Isa visibly slumped. "Oh. Yes, he…" Isa trailed off. "There is still a lot of darkness within me. Most of it, Xehanort planted there himself. But I haven't been able to get rid of it…"

"You won't be able to do it by yourself," Riku told him. "I've been through this sort of thing, too. Except that I actually agreed to it. I let Xehanort's heartless possess me. And I unlocked my own world to the darkness."

"You didn't know what you were doing."

"No, I didn't. I wouldn't have chosen to cause so much suffering, if I had known. But my point is, you're not at fault for your actions as Saïx. You didn't choose that. But in spite of that… you're still suffering lingering effects from everything that happened."

Isa hugged his arms around his chest. "So what do you want me to do? Everyone's already told me I'm not to blame for what Saïx or Xehanort did. They've told me I should just go home and try to live my life and be happy…" Isa clenched his eyes shut. "How can I be _happy_ after everything I've seen and everything I've _done?_ "

"You can't just go back to the way things were," Riku agreed. "It just isn't possible. The worlds have changed. _You've_ changed. We can only move forward." Riku gingerly placed a comforting hand on Isa's shoulder. "And I know from personal experience, you won't be able to make it alone. I had to fight the darkness left in my heart, _literally._ And repeatedly. And I needed help from my friends _every_ _time_ in order to succeed. Then when I was finally strong enough to beat Xehanort's darkness on my own – that was the last time I ever had to fight him." He gave Isa a smile. "We're all here to help you, Isa. Me and Sora and Kairi, and Lea and Roxas, and everyone else! We know it will be hard for a while. But we'll give you whatever help you need, for as long as you need it."

Isa had been staring off into space. With effort, he forced himself to look Riku in the eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Riku removed his hand and backed off to give Isa his personal space back. "Have you decided what you want to do next?"

"I… no, not really." Isa paced across the room to stare out the single window. "It feels weird to think of going home. I feel like I don't have a life to return to. I was … just a stupid kid when I lost my heart. Now years have passed, and I… I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Go back to school? Try to find a job? I always just trailed after Lea before. He didn't have any plans, either, but he kept things interesting. But now I don't even have that as an option…"

Riku hummed in response. "Well, I don't want to pressure you at all… but you do have another option." Riku summoned Braveheart to his hand as a demonstration. "I don't know how much you remember from the battle, but… I performed the keyblade bequeathing ceremony for you. I marked you as my successor, and gave you the power to wield a keyblade."

Isa frowned, thinking. "I do remember. It seemed like a dream. But didn't you say, 'as long as I have the makings'…"

"The ceremony worked. You are worthy," Riku insisted. "If it hadn't worked, you wouldn't have been able to take the X-Blade." He let his keyblade disappear back into his heart again. "And besides that, I've heard stories about you sleepwalking and opening locked doors. I bet I know how that's been happening."

Isa thoughtfully considered the idea. He held out his right hand and stared at it a moment. He clenched his fist, then slowly opened his hand again. With a flash, a blade appeared in his grip.

But this wasn't his familiar Lunatic claymore. This was something new. This was a graceful looking keyblade that Riku recognized as a variation of Starseeker. The guard around the handle had spikes around it that looked like part of the Lunatic blade, and teeth of the key was just a large, crescent moon.

"This is mine?" Isa murmured, looking at the keyblade in wonder.

"You're not obligated to train or fight, just because you have a keyblade," Riku assured him. "But as the one who chose you, that makes me responsible to oversee your training. But only if this is what you want, for yourself. That's why I didn't tell any of the others about your keyblade yet. I want you to be free to make the choice for yourself."

"But… would you really have any need for me? Now that Xehanort's been defeated?"

"There's always more to do." Riku wandered over closer to Isa again, and looked out the window as well. The sky was clear and brilliant blue. "There's still a bunch of worlds that are sleeping in darkness. And a lot of lingering heartless and nobodies across the worlds, too. But besides, heartless will always continue to exist so long as people exist. There will always be work for keybearers to do, to keep the worlds safe."

"I… I will have to think about this." Isa let the keyblade disappear back into his heart. He continued staring at his empty hand.

"Take all the time you need," Riku assured him. He started moving back to the door. It was time for him to go. "Just know that I will respect your decision, whatever it is. And if you don't want to fight, I'll take you to any world you want to go to, and help you set up a new life there."

"Thank you… Riku. I… really don't deserve so much care."

"Yes, you do. It's just Xehanort who's made you think you don't. And we're all going to help you, Isa, until you can believe it again, too."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 24

Isa found Lea alone one morning when he was off training outside. Lea stopped when he sighted his friend and waved. "Hey, Isa! Nice haircut!"

"Thanks." Isa had gotten his blue hair cut to hang just below his chin. It was nearly the same style he'd worn as a teen, before he'd become a nobody. "Are you ever going to cut yours?"

"Nope." Lea proudly patted his spikes. "I like it like this."

"You look like a porcupine," Isa pointed out.

"I know!" Lea grinned proudly.

Isa rolled his eyes.

"You want to do some sparring?" Lea offered hopefully.

"I actually… had something I wanted to show you." Isa held out his right hand. His keyblade materialized into it.

"Whaaaaaa?!" Lea exclaimed in glee. "You have a keyblade too?! That's so awesome! We can train together! We can travel and see all the worlds together!" Lea pinned Isa's arms to his sides in a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm happy, too, Lea," Isa said with much more restraint. But he smiled freely, for the first time since becoming a nobody.

"We're going to be the biggest heroes the worlds have ever seen!" Lea proclaimed. "You and me and Roxas and Xion! Aah! I'm so excited!"

Isa chuckled at Lea. "I'm excited, too. It'll be nice to finally do something… that has real _meaning._ "

"Yeah!" Lea finally released Isa. He was still practically bouncing with excitement.

"You want to try sparring?" Isa offered, hefted his keyblade.

"You bet!" Lea summoned his fiery keyblade in a flash. He dropped into a fighting stance with a face-breaking smile on his face. "Let's see what you can do!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Day 31

The beach party ended up being a massive event. It was all Roxas's fault, though – he was the one who kept expanding and expanding the guest list. Mickey volunteered to take over the food catering from Riku (much to Riku's relief) once it became apparent that only a monarch could afford to feed everyone who would be showing up. They had even considered moving the party somewhere else, but both Roxas and Riku had been in firm agreement that it needed to take place at Twilight Town's beach. It was a symbolic sort of thing. Also, they didn't want to make the Twilight Town kids have to travel off-world.

Most of the guests had already arrived, Riku observed. Hopefully they would mingle more later, but for now, they were all sticking together in their familiar clusters of friends. Aqua, Terra, and Ventus were all huddled up, talking to each other and occasionally shooting glances at everyone else. They looked pretty awkward. Maybe it was a side effect of them essentially growing up with a whole world to themselves?

Sora and Kairi were laughing about something with Xion and Naminé. Lea hovered nearby, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation while at the same time keeping tabs on Isa, who had actually approached Ienzo and struck up a conversation on his own. Isa was still dealing with massive amounts of self-loathing and PTSD, but at least he was making the effort to not isolate himself. Everyone was treating him as something breakable, which thankfully seemed to be helping him more than annoying him. Riku still didn't have a good feel for what Isa's normal personality was yet – but he seemed like someone who liked things quiet, orderly, and low-key. And yet, he'd been friends with Lea, who was the opposite of all that. So Riku still had a lot to figure out. But he'd have time – Yen Sid agreed that since Isa had agreed to be a keybearer, Riku would be the one in charge of training him. With lots of help from Lea, of course. And Sora, Roxas, Xion, and maybe even the old keybearers as well. Just not all at the same time. Never mind what Isa could handle – Riku was _certain_ he wouldn't be able to deal with all of them at once!

The rest of the former Organization Thirteen members were sticking close to each other as well, but they were being friendly at least. Lauriam and Even were getting reacquainted as somebodies. Arleen had just joined in talking to Isa and Ienzo, and they all seemed very interested in whatever they were discussing. Meanwhile Aeleus, Dilan, and Edym had settled down on the sand to join Rould in a poker game. Rould looked thrilled. Edym looked scared. The other two had much better poker faces.

Braig had opted not to attend. And he'd been quite rude about it, too. He could still summon dark corridors, so he was able to disappear off to whatever world he pleased. Riku was a bit worried what the man would choose to do. Him joining up with Maleficent ranked as one of Riku's top fears. But Yen Sid and Mickey – and reluctantly, Riku – had agreed that even Braig deserved a chance to make a new life for himself, now that he was free from Xehanort's influence. Maybe being rude and threatening was just his way of coping with the embarrassment of being misled and possessed by Xehanort.

Or maybe he was plotting to become a new villain. Either way… only time would tell.

And finally, down by the edge of the waves, Roxas was happily lost in conversation with the kids from Twilight Town: Hayner, Olette, and Pence. The way they were chatting together, you'd think they were old friends. Riku, smiling to himself, remembered how nervous Roxas had been to approach them in the first place, to invite them to this party. Riku had gone along for moral support. All Roxas's fears had been unwarranted – the kids recognized him on sight, and knew him by name, thanks to the picture Sora had shown them. They greeted Roxas by telling him how glad they were to meet him, and asking him if he was free to hang out with them. Roxas had been so shell-shocked, he'd started laughing and crying when he tried to respond. He had thrown a dirty look at Riku, so Riku had shrugged and looked away, pretending he hadn't seen anything. He was still trying to bribe his way into Roxas's good graces, so he wasn't about to embarrass the ex-nobody any further.

Just then, Mickey and his staff landed their gummi ship and started bringing out tables and food. That got all the teenagers' attention almost instantly, and most of the adults' as well. Riku was no exception – he started wandering over himself, ostensibly to "help set up." Sora had gotten there first and was already eating something, so at least Riku wouldn't be the first.

Then Riku caught sight of the old keybearers again – the three were still clustered together, and now looked very uncomfortable as they watched the rest of the party from afar. Riku sighed and changed course to go check on them. He felt _extremely_ awkward trying to counsel adults. But bizarrely, given his personal experience with resisting and overcoming darkness – and self doubts – he was probably the most qualified of everyone here.

Riku vaguely recalled "psychiatrist" as being a job that normal people could have, which focused on helping people overcome their doubts and difficulties. The way things were going, maybe he should try to get educated in that line of work. After all, if he was going to end up doing it anyway, he should probably try to be good at it.

"I… I think we should leave," Terra said to Riku in lieu of a greeting.

"No, Terra." Riku inwardly groaned. "This is a celebration of defeating Xehanort and saving the worlds. You should stay and try to talk to people. I am certain that most people here are _very interested_ in getting to know the real you. And no one here is going to harm anyone else."

Terra looked away and scrubbed at the back of his neck. "I don't think you understand, Riku… they… I _used_ them. I _lied_ to them!"

"The Organization?" Riku guessed. He glanced back over at the poker game. Now Lea was trying to join, and trying to persuade Isa and Ienzo to jump in as well. "Terra, the members of the Organization _hated_ each other. They plotted against each other and some of them _killed_ each other. And look at them now!"

Terra reluctantly did look as he was told. He studied the surprisingly-friendly group intently.

"Terra, I was inside their hearts," Riku reminded him. "I saw the kind of people they were – and I honestly think they will just be curious to see who _you_ really are. Yes, Xemnas lied to them. They already know that. But you aren't Xemnas – or at least not completely," Riku cut off Terra's protest. "And you _definitely_ aren't Xehanort. And they know that. So please… _please_ just make an effort? You don't have to be best friends with them, just… go over and say "hi" at least?" Riku pleaded. He tried to channel Sora as he begged. Sora was amazingly persuasive.

"Hey, I'll come with you," Aqua said gently. She placed her hand on Terra's shoulder. "Remember what Yen Sid said? It'll be good closure – for them _and_ for you."

"I…" Terra slumped. "All right. You're right – I should try." He deliberately straightened up to full height and proper posture. "Thank you, Riku. I'm sorry – I should be the one looking out for you, not the other way around."

"Don't worry about it." Riku gave him a smile that he hoped didn't look forced. "That's just what friends do – we look out for each other, and we don't worry about keeping score."

That got a smile from Terra – a small one, but it was something. "All right, let's get this over with," he said to Aqua, and the two of them headed down.

Ventus made as if to follow them, but Riku stopped him. "Actually, I was hoping to talk to you for a minute," Riku said.

"O-okay," Ventus said. He fidgeted slightly.

"I don't want to interrogate you," Riku protested. "I just… wanted to know how you're doing."

"Oh…" Ventus relaxed – but only slightly. "I'm doing fine."

"…I was hoping for more detail than _that._ Terra said you've gotten all your memories back, right?"

Ventus groaned and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know how I'm doing! How am I even supposed to feel? I feel like I… just stopped existing – and now I've got two strangers' sets of memories to fill in the gap!"

"I think you're allowed to say you're confused and overwhelmed," Riku said drily. "Nearly everyone else here feels the same. Or has felt like that in the past."

"Yeah, I guess," Ventus grumbled. "But it's still really awkward. Aqua and Terra expect me to act like someone I don't know how to be. And you!" Ventus jabbed a finger toward Riku. "How can you be so calm around me? One of my… fragmented selves _killed you_ , then kept your heart captive for weeks! How are you not angry with me?!"

"I don't have any reason to be angry with _you_ , Ventus," Riku replied in his calm way that had always seemed to annoy Vanitas. "And I'm actually not angry with Vanitas, either. In his roundabout way, he saved my life. And yes, he was kind of a jerk to me… but I don't think he knew how to behave any other way. Actually, with only half a heart, I don't think he _could._ "

Ventus grunted but also nodded in agreement. "In spite of everything he said, he really was trying to look after you."

"I know. I could tell." Riku folded his arms and laughed wryly. "You know, I think I was probably his first real friend."

Ventus laughed bitterly as well. "It's so weird – you're the first person who hasn't tried to commiserate with me for being stuck with Vanitas's memories. But… thank you for that. Because he is a part of me now, and I have no choice but to accept that."

"I wondered sometimes what Vanitas would be like, if he were to gain a full heart – gain the ability to deal with normal emotions," Riku mused aloud. "But it occurs to me now, the answer is _you._ Vanitas with a complete heart… is you." Riku smiled thoughtfully, then offered Ventus a hand. "So… do you think that you and I could be friends?"

Ventus smirked back at him and accepted the hand. "I thought you said we already were. And for the record? You're still too nice."

Riku just laughed. He motioned for Ventus to follow him, and the two of them headed down the sand to rejoin the others.

"Hey, you two!" Lea hollered at them as soon as he spotted them. He was hopping up and down and waving. "I challenge you to a game of keyblade volleyball!"

"What?" Ventus asked, raising an eyebrow. To Riku, he asked, "Is that a real thing? That doesn't sound like an appropriate use of keyblades…"

Riku snorted. "It probably isn't. But… it would technically be training?" He grinned. "Let's not disappoint Lea. He gets really whiney."

"Are you serious?" Isa was asking Lea as they got closer.

"Of course! Look – Master Riku says it's a good idea!"

Isa gave Riku an incredulous look. Riku shrugged with an awkward grin. Isa rolled his eyes.

"Please please please?" Lea begged Isa.

"Fine." Isa relented. "Does this game of yours have rules?"

"Well, yeah! It's just like normal volleyball… except you have to hit the ball with your keyblade!"

"Did someone bring a ball?" Riku asked.

"Did someone bring a ball that will survive getting hit by keyblades?" Isa added.

"Yep and yep!" Lea declared. "Roxas! It's time!"

"Ready!" Roxas tossed and caught a heavy white ball in one hand. "Prepare to lose, Axel!"

"Only in your dreams, buddy!" Lea countered, summoning his fiery keyblade. "It is _on!_ "

The volleyball game turned out extremely uncontrolled and silly, but it provided great entertainment for the large group of giggling onlookers. Eventually Lea conceded defeat to Roxas's team, and the weary volleyball players _finally_ got to try some of the food Mickey had brought. It was all fancy and amazing and delicious.

Twilight Town never got full sunlight, but it did get full night. Eventually, the stars became visible. Sora and Kairi came and found Riku, and pulled him aside. They headed down the beach a ways, just out of sight of the party, and flopped down on the sand together, side by side. At Sora's insistence, both Kairi and Riku each held one of his hands. Just like they had done dozens of times in the past.

"How long has it been since we've watched the stars like this?" Sora finally asked.

"It feels like it's been forever," Riku mused. "But probably only… a couple years at most?"

"It's like nothing has changed." Kairi laughed. "And yet, so much has! We're all guardians of light now, and we're watching the stars from a different world!"

"Yeah…" Sora said quietly. He gripped his friends' hands tighter.

Kairi looked over at him. "Are you okay, Sora?"

"Y-yeah… just thinking… how lucky I am to have you two as my friends."

Riku and Kairi both "awwed" back at him in unison. Then they went back to watching the stars in silence.

"Oh! A shooting star!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Hey, there's another one!" Sora let go of their hands so he could point up at the sky.

Riku noted one himself, then frowned. "The downside of being a keybearer is that you can't just _enjoy_ a meteor shower anymore."

Sora and Kairi both sat up and looked at him. "You think there's a problem?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know. But we should probably go check in with Yen Sid. Just in case."

"Right! Duty calls!" Sora exclaimed, hopping to his feet. He whipped out his keyblade and used it to open a path to the world of Yen Sid's tower. "Whoever's causing trouble had better watch out! Cause here we come!"

Riku and Kairi were right after him through the doorway, laughing.

THE END!

X-X-X-X-X-X

 _And finally, we are done! Thank you all for your shows of support. I've appreciated the comments, the favorites, and the discussions around this story! It's been an epic undertaking for me, and the longest thing I've written in years._

 _A few final items that didn't get addressed in the story, that folks might still have questions about._

 _DiZ. Wasn't he stuck in the realm of darkness or something? Why wasn't he rescued in this story? I just didn't want to deal with an additional character, honestly. I already had so many. And they managed to win without him, after all. Don't worry – Aqua and Mickey will probably go rescue him tomorrow. I'm sure he's fine…_

 _Riku Replica. Will they ever see him again? Probably not. But eventually, maybe the heroes will start hearing rumors of a silver-haired boy that sometimes appears on some of the more distant worlds…_

 _Braig. What's he doing? He's totally going to join forces with Maleficent. They can bond over Xehanort being a backstabbing jerk who never delivered on his promises. And what annoying idiots keybearers are. Yeah, I think it sounds like the start of a beautiful, evil friendship. ;)_

 _Thank you again, all my readers! And special thanks to my sisters for being such supportive beta readers. I hope you all have a happy holiday season! And happy writing! :)_

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